Slip Up
by Trojevia
Summary: Kisara loses her memory and becomes enslaved under Gozaburo. While trapped there, she learns to summon monsters and meets a certain stepson of Gozaburo. But terrible things will happen if one digs too far into secrets that don't belong to them.  AU/AR
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Yugioh or any of its characters.**

**This is a new story that I had an idea to write. I'll try to keep up with this one, I promise! I think this one has the best storyline of the ones I'm publishing.**

"Kisara, look at this!"

I looked at Gyakutenno Megami, also known as Meg. (She's the one on the most recent version of the card with white hair and a strange earring.)

"What?" I asked.

"The lake! It's rippling!"

"It's probably nothing," I said. "The fish probably are trying to get mosquitoes. It's not like this isn't the middle of summer."

"But the ripples are too big to be the fish!"

I finally looked at the lake by my house. The sunset turned the water a bright orange. There were indeed a lot of ripples in the water.

"You're right. I'll tell Papa."

"It's okay," Meg said. I'll tell him." With that, she got up and left me alone on the dock to admire the sunset. The long grass waved in the breeze.

_I could stay here forever. It's just so peaceful._

Of course, it's when you say or think something like that, that something goes horribly wrong. Like a Fiend Kraken attacking and grabbing you with one of its tentacles to drag you underwater and eat you.

I screamed and tried to break free, but the squid just had too much muscle. It felt disgusting, with all that squirming and slime that had built up over the years. I took as deep of a breath as I could and prepared to be plunged underwater.

I heard a yell and saw a spear hit the Fiend Kraken in the eye. I didn't look away, though, since I was used to blood and gore. My family, after all, was a fishing family. Preparing fish was all part of the job.

The squid made a horrible writhing sound that you wouldn't suspect fish are capable of creating. Its tentacles started flailing and I was being tossed all over the place. It let go of me, and I had a 12-foot drop into the lake.

I quickly swam away from the monster. I saw a blast of lilac magic hit the squid. It looked like it was being shocked, but I didn't feel any of the effects the squid felt. I knew it was Meg's magic. The thirty seconds it took to reach the dock seemed like hours. I started to pull myself up, but my arms seemed to fail me. I probably was still somewhat in shock. Then again, my arms were still slimy from being held by the squid. I felt strong arms pull me out of the water, and I looked into the face of my father.

"Thanks, Daddy," I said, panting.

I caught him wiping his hands on his pants. Personally, I didn't blame him. Squid slime is _very_ disgusting.

He picked up another spear from the dock (we kept a supply of spears hidden under the boards in the dock for emergencies like this). He heaved it at the flailing cephalopod, and it severed two tentacles.

Meg ran to help me back to our house. Unfortunately, she slipped on the slimy dock and got herself knocked out cold. With her unconscious, her spell failed and the squid could move of its own free will again. The squid started coming towards me again, and I knew that I was doomed. I couldn't use magic to immobilize the squid myself, and I knew that I couldn't wake Meg up with a bucket of water. I ran and grabbed her hand, desperately trying to pull her with me, but I wasn't particularly known for my strength. I was too skinny. The slime on the dock allowed me to drag her a little, but not much. Papa threw another spear at the squid. It hit it hard enough to pierce its skin and go straight into its heart. The kraken's tentacles were flailing again, but somehow it survived.

_When will this nightmare die already?_

My question was answered when I heard a low growl and saw a wild Magna Drago attack the fiend. The squid grabbed the dragon's legs, to which the dragon responded by breathing a stream of lava into its wounds. The squid let go and lay still. The dragon was large enough to carry off the cephalopod off with it, spears and all. All the while, I was glaring at the dragon.

Three times my family has had to move due to a dragon attack on the house. One attack was by a Pitch-Dark Dragon. The other two were due to a Magna Drago. I didn't want another dragon attack on the house to add to my collection. My mother died in the last attack due to severe burns that Meg couldn't cure in time. To this day, I hate dragons, and I'm all for their extinction.

I heard a moan behind me and saw Meg getting back up. "Are you alright, Miss?" she asked.

"I'm fine," I said. "My clothes might not be so lucky."

She laughed. Then her expression turned more serious as she looked out at the lake. "Where's that Fiend Kraken?"

"It's gone," I said.

"Is it dead?"

"A _dragon_ killed it and carried it off," I said in disgust.

"What kind?"

"A Magna Drago."

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Miss. Let's get you washed up for dinner."

That was Meg. Always calling me Miss, she was a neat freak and could be excitable.

I headed back to the old wooden house, grateful that it hadn't been attacked.

I walked up the creaky stairs to the washroom. I turned on the lanterns, and then I turned the water on in the bathtub. It was hot in the room, so I let the water stay cold. I scrubbed all over and washed my hair. Then I soaked for 15 minutes before letting the water drain. I got out and changed into a different outfit (it looks like Ilia's outfit from Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess – don't own). I walked back downstairs, long hair dripping. Dinner was still being prepared. Papa was chopping up potatoes. I started to chop the onions and garlic. I didn't particularly like onions, but my family wasn't rich. You ate whatever you could to get by. I finished and started to move on to the sausage. I pulled out a pot and started to cook it on our wood stove. When it had browned, I added broth and the vegetables that had been chopped so far. Papa was chopping carrots (my favorite vegetable). I walked outside and plucked some nuts off our walnut tree. I walked back and shelled the walnuts. The broth finally started to boil as I was adding the nuts. I added some spices to the broth as Papa added the carrots and started to stir. It was a few minutes before dinner was ready.

I heard scuttling and saw my pet jackalope, Poppy. She had been a gift from our neighbors, the Taylors. She earned her name from constantly sneaking into our garden and eating our poppies. I grabbed her a piece of celery to munch on. Poppy happily hopped away with the celery in her mouth.

Speak of the devil, the Taylor boy, Tristan was at our window with his best friend, Joey. Both faces were pressed against the glass.

"Food!" Tristan said, drooling.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head but smiled at his antics. That was Tristan for you. I opened the window and said, "Sorry, but dinner's not ready yet. You can join us if you like once it's ready."

Joey started to climb in the window.

"I said once it's ready, not yet. And can't you use the door like a normal person?"

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, climbing back out.

"I could have you charged for breaking and entering!"

"Technically, you opened the window for us," Tristan said.

"Well technically, I didn't give you permission to enter at your time of entry," I said.

Both boys were silent. I had won an argument against them yet again. With all honesty, it normally wasn't that hard to beat them there.

Papa laughed as he stirred the soup. "She wins again. That's two hundred one to… what is it? Zero?"

If the boys were cartoon bulls, they would have snorted and smoke would have come out of their noses. As it was, Joey looked like one of his blood vessels was about to burst.

Meg laughed at their expressions. She really was like a second mother to me, ever since my real mother died. Meg was Mother's personal summon, who stayed loyal to our family even after Mother died.

"Soup's ready," Papa said.

"FOOD!" both boys exclaimed.

Tristan walked to the door, where I let him in. I heard a crash behind me and saw Joey on the floor.

"Joey! Use the door like a normal person! Do you want that to happen to you again?"

"No," he said.

"Did Joey climb through the window again?" someone asked. I ran to the door. My best friend, Serenity, was there. She wore an orange skirt with a white tank top and a pink shrug.

"Yes, your brother climbed in through the window. Look at him, all in a crumpled mess on the floor."

Serenity laughed.

Joey snarled.

"Do you mind if I stay for dinner?" she asked.

"Not at all for my best friend. Besides, I need reassurance that someone else knows that these two dingbats can't possibly be human. Eating dinner together should prove that."

"For the record, I am not related to either of them. Just so you know," Serenity said, laughing.

"Bit of knowledge acquired."

We both started laughing.

"When's dinner?" Tristan asked.

"Set the table, then we'll talk," I said.

Tristan had been to my house so often that he knew where everything was downstairs. My room was upstairs, but he had almost never been in there. It had been years since he had seen it (unless he snuck in there while I was gone). I didn't let him in my room when I was little because boys had cooties at that age. When I lost my innocence due to the talk, I didn't let him in because of paranoia.

He did indeed set the table. It's nice to know how easily he and Joey can be manipulated.

"So when's dinner?" Joey asked.

"Right now," I said.

We sat down. Our chairs were simple, and our table was less than elegant (again, I had a poor family; we were grateful to be able to afford a two-story house). Our brown bowls weren't the smoothest to the touch, either. We made the dishes out of clay and fired them ourselves in a makeshift kiln.

The soup was delicious. Mother taught me how to cook before she died, and I knew many of her cooking secrets. Adding nuts to soups was one of them.

Serenity and I shared laughs at dumb comments Joey and Tristan made.

Our company stayed late into the night. I went into my room, getting tired. I had just finished changing when I heard a soft knock on the door. Thinking it was Meg, I opened it. It wasn't Meg. It was Serenity.

"Hi, Serenity. What's up?"

"I heard screaming at the lake and a lot of splashes. There was a terrible screech, and I saw something reddish orange fly away from the lake. What happened?"

"Nothing happened. I'm fine."

"Those screams sounded like yours. Plus, your hair was soaked when I first saw you. What really happened?"

"Fiend Kraken. It somehow got into the lake. I was alone on the dock when it attacked me. It probably wanted to eat me. Papa and Meg almost killed it, which let me escape, but then a Magna Drago finished it and carried it off."

Serenity gasped. She knew very well why I hated dragons, especially that species.

"But don't they normally live in the desert or near volcanoes?"

"They do, which is why I'm staying as far away from those as possible. That one was probably evicted from its territory. I hear that there are volcanoes in the nearby mountains. Even though nearby means 100 miles away."

"How big was it?"

"The biggest one I've seen. It looked about 15 feet tall and 35 feet long."

"That's huge! I'd hate to see what ousted it from its territory."

"Me too," I said. "Me too."

Serenity paused. "Do you think Tristan likes me?"

I stared at her, surprised by the sudden change in conversation. "What?"

"I think he does," she said, looking at the floor.

"Maybe. He does tend to try to be more macho when you're around."

"I know. When I'm around him, even when Joey's there, I see him looking at me out of the corner of my eye."

I raised one eyebrow.

"And he has this look on his face when he does."

"Show me."

She adopted a dopey expression on her face. I laughed.

"Guilty as charged. He's got a thing for you, Serenity!"

"What do I do?"

"Well, do you like him?"

"I don't know. I mean, he's a nice guy and all, but it's creepy. I mean the guy's three and a half years older than me!"

I laughed again.

"Ask him if he likes you. If he says yes, figure out how you feel about it. If you like him, too, be honest about it. That's the best advice I can give you. But if you don't feel the same way, take advantage of him."

We both laughed.

"Thanks for the advice, Kisara," Serenity said, still giggling.

"It's no problem," I said. "Men need to be taught their place. Don't let him dominate you if you two become an item."

"I'll be sure to remember that."

We heard a crash downstairs. Both of us ran, worried that someone broke in. Someone did. Joey had come back in through the window and fallen in another heap on the floor.

"JOEY! USE THE DOOR!"

"But it was locked."

"Did you try knocking?"

"Uh… no."

"Knocking will probably work, Joey."

"Why did you come back in?" Serenity asked.

"It's time to go, Seren. Dad's in another pub. Mom's been crying for a while. I think Dad beat her again while he was drunk."

"I gotta go, Kisara."

"I understand. You go home before it gets any later. I need to catch some shuteye myself."

"See you later, Kissy," Joey said, unlocking and opening the door.

"KISSY! DO YOU WANT ME TO THROW YOU OUT THE WINDOW AND STUFF YOU INTO THE GARBAGE CAN? I CAN DO IT IF I NEED TO!"

"Relax. Like you said, you need some shuteye. Stressing yourself will only give you nightmares."

"NIGHTMARES? I'LL SHOW YOU NIGHTMARES. I'LL BE YOUR WORST ONE, JOEY!" I said, throwing the closest object (a spoon).

Joey was obviously used to ducking from random flying objects, since his dad was a drunkard.

"Bye Kisara," he said quickly. He grabbed Serenity's wrist and ran out the door. I closed and locked it and stormed off back to my room.

_Calling me Kissy. The nerve of him!_

I wasn't tired anymore after being worked up like that.

I heard another knock on my door.

"Enter," I said.

Meg had come up the stairs.

"What was all that shouting about?"

"Joey called me Kissy. He should know better," I huffed.

"I know you dislike being called Kissy, but you woke your father up."

"Oh well."

"Don't 'oh well' your father. He needs rest after fighting off that squid and dealing with those two boys," she said.

"Whatever," I said.

"Are you okay, Kisara?"

"I'm fine," I lied.

"Is it that dragon?"

I sighed.

"I take your silence as a yes," she said. "Do you feel like talking?"

"No."

"Let me know when you do," Meg said, walking back out.

I turned off my lamp and sat in my bed, looking out the window at the stars. A shooting star flew through the sky.

_I wish that I could change my life._

Feeling nothing different, I cried myself to a dreamless sleep.

**Aww, poor Kisara. **

**Yes, I am alive, and here's why I haven't updated. **

**Runaway: I am not sure how to end this chapter. I haven't lost interest, though.**

**Legend of the Dragon Warrior: I kinda lost interest, and if I do update, I'll rewrite the story. I can see major improvements in my writing as the story has progressed, and the style in the beginning is embarrassing! If no one keeps responding to my story, I'll probably delete it. Plus, I have too many characters brought back from the past that I don't even use.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own Yugioh. If I did, I wouldn't have let 4kids dub it. I also don't own the first half of the prophecy (whoever wrote that for Pokémon the Movie 2000 does).**

I woke up and realized that it was late. As in 1:00 in the afternoon.

_What? Why didn't Papa wake me up before now?_

I slowly got out of bed and stretched. I was still tired even after all that sleep. I changed into a light bluish-purple shirt and white capris.

As I walked downstairs, I didn't hear anything. I looked in Papa's bedroom. No one was there.

_That's strange. I wonder where Meg is._

I looked in her room. She was gone, too.

I quickly made myself an egg for breakfast and headed out to find Meg and Papa. They weren't outside. I did catch Poppy trying to sneak into our garden again. After shooing her, I plucked the ripe tomatoes and peapods from our plants.

There was still no sign of Papa or Meg.

I headed next door to the Taylors. I knocked, expecting a reply. There was none.

I walked back to my house. I looked out at the lake from the window. There were no boats on the lake.

_Where is everybody?_

I finally noticed a note on the table.

_How did I miss that?_

I read it.

_Kisara,_

_Your father and I went with the Taylors to the town hall. A messenger from town said that there was someone very important that we had to see there. He refused to elaborate._

_We would have woken you up to come with us, but after yesterday at the lake, we figured that we would let you get your rest._

_When you wake up, be sure to eat breakfast and head on over to town. He said that it required everyone to be there._

_Be safe!_

_-Meg_

I grabbed a small block of cheese and a water bottle and began the three mile-long journey to town alone.

I wished not for the first time that we could afford a horse. The sun made it blistering hot, which was bad for my pale skin since I burned easily. I never got a tan after being burnt, which kept it just as easy to burn my skin.

I heard horses' hooves in the background after 20 minutes. I looked back and saw two men riding a bay and a flea bitten gray (it's white with brown spots – not an appaloosa). It seemed like they were racing. They had traveling capes on. I continued on my way, ignoring them. They came to a halt right beside me.

"Well, it's a pretty babe here. How much do you think she's worth?"

"More than your hides are put together. Beat it," I said, walking faster.

The man riding the gray kicked his horse forward and stopped it in front of me. "Where do you think you're going?"

"None of your concern."

The man riding the bay moved forward now.

"It's dangerous for pretty women to wander these woods alone," he said, a wicked grin spreading across his face.

"You're right. You might fall off your horse there and get your hair messed up. I said beat it!" I glared at the men. They just laughed.

Knowing from experience that some horses spook more easily than others, I made a sudden jerk and slapped the gray horse's hindquarters while making a wild sound. It worked. The horse bolted, carrying his rider at full speed. It took all the man's concentration to hold on. Meanwhile, the bay horse saw the gray take off at full speed. The bay started bucking and braying. The horse's rider fell off in the process, and the horse landed on his arm before following the gray the way it came. I heard a crunch when the horse stepped on the man's arm, but I didn't flinch. I was used to the sound of breaking fish bones. The man winced but still stood. With his good arm, he pulled a machete out of his cloak. Now I was in trouble. I started running as fast as I could towards town. Despite having a broken arm and a hurt ankle (the man had probably sprained his ankle when he fell off the horse), he could still run very fast. I wasn't known for having much speed or endurance (again, I was very skinny at the time), so the man was right on my tail.

_Just my luck. I'm being chased in the middle of nowhere by a crazed man with a machete._

I ran and ran, even further than my legs would normally take me. I was getting absolutely winded and I knew that I would be sore for the next few days.

Of course, there was a tall tree root conveniently in my path for me to trip over. Which I did. I was tired. I was winded. I was so out of breath that I couldn't even scream.

The man was almost upon me when I saw a beam of dark purple energy hit the man. I looked up and saw some strange duel monster that looked like it was made of silver and gold. It had some strange design of an eye.

"Kelbek! Paralyze him!"

The monster, which I took to be Kelbek, shot a beam of lightning from its eye and paralyzed the bandit with the machete. It reached out its hand and the machete flew right into its hand.

"Keep an eye on this one."

The creature nodded and used its telekinesis to make the bandit levitate. I finally got a good look at its summoner. He was bald except for a long black ponytail. He had an assortment of tattoos written in runes on the side of his face. He had tan skin and hazel eyes. He was wearing hooded linen robes (the hood has something dangling in the front at the top like that guy from Assassin's Creed – don't own). His sandals looked worn.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

I nodded, still too winded to speak effectively.

"What is your name?"

"Kisara," I managed to breathe. A look of recognition crossed his face.

"Kisara, you say?"

I nodded again.

"You do look like… never mind, pardon my manners. I am Odion Ishtar. I am a temple cleric and a tombkeeper. I assume you have heard of the Ishtar clan."

_An Ishtar! They work with the royals!_

I nodded yet again.

"Can you walk?"

I tried to stand up, but my legs were wobbling beneath me. I had trouble keeping my balance.

"Let me help you," Odion said.

I grabbed his shoulder to stabilize myself. We began the walk to town.

When I regained my breath enough to talk, I said, "Mr. Ishtar, how did you find me?"

"My sister has the gift of foresight. She told me to leave town about 10 minutes ago with a duel monster already summoned. So I came here with Kelbek. I saw you running from that man, so I assumed that was why I needed to leave town."

"Tell your sister that I owe her one."

"I will," he said, smiling.

"So, who were you saying I looked like?"

"It's nothing. Well, it's very complicated to explain, and you probably wouldn't believe me once I finished."

"Try me."

"I'd rather not. It would take half an hour to finish my story and you would probably get bored. Then I would have to explain the meaning. Besides, we're already on the outskirts of town."

"You're just trying to get out of explaining it to me, aren't you."

"Partially," he admitted. "But it's not a good thing for too many ears to hear the story."

I pouted. We finally reached the town square.

Another temple cleric walked up to us. He had sandy blonde hair and lavender eyes. I envied him for his eye color.

"Hey Odion, who's this lovely lady here?" he had a flirtatious tone in his voice.

"I'm Kisara," I said.

He looked stunned and quickly said, "My apologies, your grace, I should have been more careful with my speech." He bowed and walked away.

I looked back at Odion. "What's with that guy? One moment he's flirting with me, the next he's asking for my forgiveness like I'm about to kill him!"

"Marik can't resist flirting with pretty young women. He changed so suddenly because of something having to do with my story."

"That's a rather interesting way of arousing my curiosity regarding your story. You ought to tell me what's going on."

"There are too many ears around. Ah, there she is!"

"Who?" I asked.

"My sister," he replied, taking me to her.

"Odion, I assume you brought her here," the woman said, not even looking back.

"I did. Kisara, this is Ishizu, my sister."

"Kisara," she said, the same look of recognition crossing her face as she turned and faced me. "Yes, it would fit perfectly. I am Ishizu Ishtar. I believe you are the reason we were pulled here."

"What do you mean?"

"Come, and I'll show you. Follow me, Your Majesty."

"Why is everyone treating me so differently all of a sudden? You tombkeepers are treating me like royalty."

"I assume you didn't tell her, Odion."

"No, I didn't."

"Tell me what?"

"I shall explain this once we are inside our camp. If you would come with me," she said.

I followed her, unsure of what she was planning to tell me.

She led me to a field with white tents and several elegant horses, far more refined than the ones the bandits were riding. We passed several clerics who bowed as the woman walked by, saying "Madam Ishizu". It seemed that she was the leader of the Ishtar clan.

We went to a tent with gold tassels. She beckoned me inside and I followed, Odion close behind with Marik. Simple cots and several scrolls lined the tent. She started searching through her scrolls. She finally seemed satisfied with one.

"Here it is," she said. "Here is a history of the dynasties of a distant land called Egypt. The Akhen Dynasty is what I need to tell you about. The kings of Egypt were called pharaohs. The first pharaoh in this dynasty was named Akhen. He had two sons, the elder Ahenamkanon and the younger Akhenaden. The elder became pharaoh when Akhen died. Each had a son, Akhenaden secretly fathering a boy named Seto, and Akhenamkanon fathering the Nameless Pharaoh."

I interrupted her, "Isn't his name written down somewhere?"

"Yes, but we the temple clerics are forbidden to speak it. It's only written down in one place. Not all of us even get to see it. I am the only one alive with the knowledge of that name."

"And what does all this have to do with me?"

"I'm getting there. Have patience. To save the kingdom from invaders, Akhenaden proposed the creation of the Millennium Items, objects of great magical power. Akhenamkanon reluctantly agreed to save his kingdom. Akhenaden invaded a village of thieves, Kul Elna, in order to use the souls of 99 people to create the Millenium Items. However, there was a single survivor of the incident, lucky number 100, the Thief King Bakura. He attacked Egypt years later, believing Akhenamkanon to be responsible for the deaths of his people. In reality, Akhenamkanon only agreed to create the Millennium Items because he didn't know how they were created. When he found out, he died in grief and guilt, begging the gods to spare his son. The boy became Pharaoh, and Akhenaden served him faithfully, secretly wishing his son Seto would be Pharaoh. That is, until Bakura attacked. The Nameless Pharaoh and his guards retaliated, and Bakura withdrew. Unbeknownst to him, his high priest was his cousin. Yes, Seto was next in line for the throne. In a series of attacks, the most powerful magician in the country was killed, the Millennium Ring taken from him, Akhenaden was attacked and possessed by Bakura, the Pharaoh was knocked off a ledge and disappeared, only to reappear days later, all the other Millennium Items were taken, and Zorc Necrophades, the ultimate being of evil that created the shadow realm, was resurrected. Akhenaden tried to persuade Seto to take the throne. Loyalty and stubbornness were Seto's predominant traits, and he refused to take the throne, killing Akhenaden, but releasing his spirit. Akhenaden possessed Seto and a battle ensued between the Pharaoh and Seto. Akhenaden was the victor, and only through a sudden burst of strength was Seto able to vanquish Akhenaden and spare the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh survived and defeated Zorc, naming Seto as his heir before dying from exhaustion."

"I still don't get what this has to do with me," I said.

"Here's where you come in. Seto was raised as a peasant, unaware of his royal lineage. He was riding through the desert one night and came across a band of bandits. They had captured a young girl with blue eyes and white hair. Seto released the girl and narrowly escaped the bandits, letting the girl on his horse before mounting it himself. Seto got off the horse and told the young girl to ride on to the next town. She obeyed, asking his name as she rode on. He told her, and the girl vowed to repay him. She did that very night. Seto ran back to his village, which the bandits were burning. They caught him, and a White Dragon saved him. The dragon killed all the bandits before disappearing. Eventually, Seto put two and two together and realized that the girl with the blue eyes and white hair had summoned the dragon. Time passed, and he became the high priest. To combat Bakura, Seto started collecting the Kas, personal summons, of criminals. He came across the girl from so long ago being stoned and stopped it. He took her back to the palace. A servant came to Seto just days later to show him what was being done in the dungeons. Akhenaden was forcing the prisoners to fight with their Kas to strengthen them. The young girl, now a young woman, wasn't aware of her Ka at the time. Two men ganged up on her with their Kas. Seto realized the woman didn't know she had a Ka, so he stepped in to save her. He defeated both men, but one man's Ka, a bug, saved him with web. It tangled Seto's Ka in the web, both Seto and the woman in mortal peril. The woman fainted, and her Ka, the White Dragon, reappeared, killing the man and destroying part of the palace. Seto visited the young woman whenever he had free time. He had to leave to fight in Kul Elna. The girl wandered the country in search of him. She eventually found him in a temple. They tried to escape from Akhenaden, who had transported Seto there. Akhenaden destroyed Seto's Ka, leaving Kisara to fight with the White Dragon. Akhenaden used his Ka to attack the woman, aiming for Seto knowing she would give her own life to save him. Her Ka and Ba, her life force, were combined, a rare condition. With her Ka sealed in stone, what Ba she had left went with the dragon. She died, living on within the White Dragon. Seto killed Akhenaden, and Akhenaden's spirit possessed Seto. The Pharaoh had found Seto by now, and a battle ensued. Akhenaden summoned the White Dragon and defeated the Pharaoh. The White Dragon was about to kill him, but Seto called the woman's name and the dragon responded, appearing in Seto's mind and killing Akhenaden once and for all. Seto wept in front of the dragon's stone tablet with the woman's body in his arms. After Zorc was defeated and Seto became Pharaoh, he discovered a spell that would place a Ka back inside a body. He tried it, and placed the White Dragon back inside the woman's body. The spell worked, and the young woman was brought back to life. She became Seto's queen, and the two continued the dynasty. You might be a descendant of Seto."

"What was the woman's name?"

"Her name…" Ishizu paused for dramatic effect (at least that's why I think she paused) "was Kisara."

"So is that why Marik was flirting with me and then chastised himself?"

"Marik…" Ishizu said, shaking her head. "Yes. And not only do I believe that you are a descendant of Seto and Kisara, but I'm certain that you are a reincarnation of Queen Kisara. If you are, then that would mean that Seto has been reincarnated as well. You must find him."

"Why?"

"It is your destiny," she said.

I blinked. I wasn't as much of an avid believer of destiny as the temple clerics, but I had a feeling that she wasn't kidding.

"I just remembered," I said. "You mentioned being pulled to me. What was that all about?"

"Ah, yes, I had forgotten," she said.

She pulled out a large burlap sack. She opened it and pulled out a very large white stone. It seemed to glow.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Have you ever heard of a White Stone of Legend?"

"No. What is it? Is that one?"

"Yes, this is a White Stone of Legend. They are beyond rare. They are eggs laid by Blue-Eyes White Dragons."

"A dragon egg? Sorry, lady, but I can't take it. Dragons and I don't mix."

"You don't have a choice. The dragon inside has chosen you as its master. It will end up with you whether you like it or not. Even if it takes years, you and this egg will reunite in this lifetime. It may hatch leagues away from you, but it will search endlessly for you until it finds you. It is such with all orphaned dragon eggs. If both parents die, its magic causes it to search through every soul on this planet until it finds one it will choose to be its surrogate parent and master. This dragon has chosen you. You two are already bonded; a tie between your souls has formed. You cannot escape it."

"I might end up killing the egg, you know. I don't exactly know how to raise orphaned dragon hatchlings."

"You don't need to worry about that. It will hatch by the next full moon, so it should be about two weeks before it hatches."

I gulped. "And it will find me no matter what?"

"Don't be afraid, Kisara. This dragon will never intentionally hurt you."

"It can still hurt me on accident. Those dragons have lightning breath, not to mention sharp teeth and claws!"

"But they can't use it unless their life is in danger until they are two years old, which is about when they can fly. You won't have to worry for a long time."

"I'm sorry. I can't raise a dragon."

"Is it because of your mother?" Ishizu asked softly.

"Wha- how did you know?"

"I have my methods," she said, rubbing her necklace.

"What?"

"I am honor-bound not to disclose my methods without express permission from the royal family. But know this. I am no one to be trifled with."

"Why are you threatening me?"

"I'm not. Take the egg. Raise it as your own child. You both will learn and grow from this experience. Trust me, it will be one the best things that will ever happen to you."

"How would you know?"

"I just know," she said, smiling. "Take the egg." She placed it in my hands. The glow intensified.

"I knew it," she said. "You are its master. Go, and take care of this egg."

"Enjoy parenthood," said the smiling Marik (whom I had forgotten was with us).

I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Wait," Ishizu said. "Cover the egg with this."

I took the burlap bag from her. Suddenly her eyes became glazed and she stood perfectly still. She wasn't even breathing.

"Are you okay?" I asked frantically. She didn't budge.

Marik and Odion looked concerned. Finally she spoke in a voice that didn't seem to be her own.

"Disturb not the harmony of fire, ice, and lightning  
>Lest these titans destroy the world in which they clash<p>

Though the water's great guardian shall arise to quell the fighting,

Alone its song will fail, thus the planet shall turn to ash.

Ancient heroes reborn,  
>Old enemies reunited<p>

Light and shadow must work together

To defeat the ultimate harbinger of destruction."

She suddenly fell and started gasping. "What happened," she said.

"Your ability triggered itself," Marik said.

"I see," she said, still panting.

"Are you okay?" I asked again.

"Yes, I'm fine now."

"Are you sure?"

"Queen Kisara was always looking out for the greater good of her people. Now I have no doubt that you are her reincarnation."

"Um thanks, I guess?"

"You're welcome. Go in peace."

I finally exited the tent. Marik and Odion followed, leading me back to town.

"Isn't Ishizu coming back with us?" I asked.

"She needs rest," Odion said.

"Oh, okay."

I arrived back in town, still shocked that I had been given a dragon egg.

"Kisara," I heard someone say. "Where have you been?"

"I just had a heavy burden placed on my shoulders by a temple cleric, Tea" I said.

"What kind of burden?" she asked.

"One that could very well be the death of me. And it will only grow more dangerous as time passes by," I said vaguely, not wanting to disclose my new secret. In fact, I was determined to rid myself of this large white secret as soon as possible.

"Okay, now I'm curious," she said, placing her hands on her hips.

I quickly thought of a lie. "The cleric told me never to speak of it. She said it was my burden alone."

She looked disappointed, sighing. "Oh well, if she said so, then I won't ask."

"Sorry," I said sheepishly.

"It's fine," she said, smiling cheerfully. She changed moods so often that there were times when I wondered if she had multiple personality disorder.

"I gotta go, Kisara," she said.

"Where are you headed?"

"Uh, well… he said yes!"

It took me a second to register what she said. Then it hit me. "You got Yugi to date you?"

"Yes," she said, giggling. "Rebecca's ticked off."

"I bet she is! Congratulations!"

"That means you're the last one."

"Huh?"

"You need a man in your life, Kiki!"

"No, I don't. And really. Kiki? That's almost as bad as Kissy!"

Tea laughed. "Who called you Kissy?"

"Joey."

"Sounds like him."

"You don't know the half of it," I said.

"Speaking of Joey, Mai's got a thing for him. They're together now."

"Did she use feminine charm or blackmail to get him?"

"Probably both," Serenity said.

"Serenity, you're here! I assume you heard."

"Joey came as red as a beet and told me," she said.

"Do you think she kissed him?"

"Probably. He was stuttering like crazy when he was telling me."

"Not to mention, Duke and Vivian are an item. That leaves you to find someone, Kisara," Tea said.

"Serenity-" I began.

"Tristan asked me out. I decided to give him a shot, since I know you can pound him into the ground if he goes too fast," Serenity said.

"I… uh… I can be a bodyguard," I said quickly.

"Do you like someone?" I heard a coy voice ask behind me.

"Mai! Did you and Joey kiss?" I said, saying much more than I intended.

She laughed. "Sure did, hon!"

That was Mai. Only she would own up to that in such a flamboyant manner. Well, maybe Vivian, too.

"But you still didn't answer my question. Do you like someone?"

"Me, myself, and I are at the top spot on my list."

"I mean a boy, dope," Mai said.

"No," I said truthfully.

"You're lying. I can see it in your bearing."

"I'm not lying. I don't like any boy that I know that way. Just friends, sure. I have lots of guy friends. But not boyfriends."

Mai raised her right eyebrow. "Are you sure? You wouldn't even tell me?"

"Even if I did like a boy, I wouldn't tell you who he would be. One word to you and the entire village would know within an hour."

"Don't you feel like there's a bond between you and someone somewhere in the world?"

I swallowed, remembering Ishizu saying almost the same thing about the dragon egg.

"You sound like the temple cleric with the gift of foresight," I said.

"You never told me this," Serenity said.

"Yeah, she was going on and on about how I am destined to be with the reincarnation of a king of a distant land. She couldn't even tell me this guy's name."

"You're marrying royalty? You have good taste," Mai said.

"She never said anything about marriage. She said I was destined to be with this guy. She never said the length of time I would be with him. For all I know, I might see him for five seconds and then forget about him forever."

"Kisara, you're hopeless," Mai said.

"Hopeless and proud of it," I smiled.

Mai facepalmed. Tea sighed.

"Like she said, hopeless," Serenity said.

I laughed. "It was nice chatting with you all, but I have to find Papa and Meg. I haven't seen them all day. They're probably wondering where I am."

"Bye Kisara," Tea and Serenity said.

"See ya later, hon. Let me know when a man comes into your life, okay?"

"Probably not okay. Sorry Mai," I said. "I know the word would spread if you found out."

She pouted as she waved.

"Bye!" I said, heading to find my father and Meg.

**Yes. I pulled a Pokémon the Movie 2000 reference. This story won't have any Pokémon, though. REVIEW PLEASE!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Don't own Yugioh, blah blah blah. You get the picture.**

I wandered around town, searching for Papa and Meg. They were nowhere to be found. The dreaded white egg was getting heavy, and I was more than tempted to make an omelet with it, but then I remembered that it would hatch in two weeks. It was too late to make an omelet with it.

Tristan saw me and waved me over. "Did you hear the news?" A goofy grin spread across his face. "I'm going out with Serenity!"

"Great! Have you seen Papa or Meg?"

"I don't know. But isn't this exciting? I finally got her to say yes!"

"That's nice. Bye Tristan," I said, walking away.

I heard him in the background talking about Serenity's attributes.

_Boys. Where are Papa and Meg?_

"Hey Kisara," I heard a friendly voice.

"Hi Yugi. Have you seen Papa or Meg?" My hopes were up, since Yugi was a naturally helpful person.

"No, I haven't. Have you seen Joey?"

"Not since yesterday. He's probably flirting with his girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?"

"Mai asked him to go out with her. I'm not sure if she used feminine charm or blackmail to get him. Probably both," I said, echoing Serenity's words.

Yugi laughed. "I'll have to agree with you there."

"Well, I have to go. I haven't seen Papa or Meg all day. Bye, Yugi."

"Bye Kisara."

I walked away. Not for the first time, I wished I were a summoner. Being able to summon monsters would have been amazing. As long as the monsters weren't dragons. Then again, they would be useful in finding Papa and Meg.

I had tried entering into summoning contracts, but the monsters I had tried all rejected me. I liked beasts and winged beasts, but they rejected my contract. Warriors weren't really my style, and neither were beast warriors. Aquas and fish weren't smart summoning choices, since it was hard for them to survive out of water. Pyros were notoriously hard to control, though they were normally nothing compared to dragons or sea serpents (which wouldn't survive for long periods of time out of water). Dinosaurs were difficult to control, too, plus the majority relied mostly on instincts rather than intelligence. Insects creeped me out too much. Plants often couldn't move. Psychics relied too much on my life force. Machines were too vulnerable to the elements, and you had to program all their new attacks. That was way too complicated for me. Reptiles could be difficult to control. Rocks couldn't communicate with you. Thunders were weak against earth, and could be difficult to control. The ones I really wanted to enter into a contract were either fairies or spellcasters. The problems with those were that they were very proficient in magic, and if you weren't careful, they could summon you to take _their_ place. So I didn't enter into a contract with them. Fiends were often too malicious for someone like me, though not all fit that category. Only necromancers summoned zombies. It was highly believed by our village that the dead never belonged with the living. The living would say goodbye to the dead, then leave them be. Desecrating the bodies of the deceased was punishable by death in our village. That made necromancy even more frowned upon by the villagers. Controlling the dead was abhorrent. That was that. Not to mention that dead things stink. A lot.

"Hey Kisara," I heard someone say behind me.

"Marik, right?" I asked. His lavender eyes twinkled.

"That would be me."

"You don't seem serious enough to be a temple cleric."

"Why does everyone say that about me?" He looked exasperated. He paused to collect himself. "Eh. I'm an Ishtar. Tradition holds that all Ishtars are temple clerics. So here I am. Though, honestly, I would rather be a traveler than a temple cleric. There are too many responsibilities for my taste."

"I believe it. You seem like a wanderer."

"I wish. Oh, by the way, your unborn member of royalty," he paused to gauge my reaction.

"ARE YOU SUGGESTING THAT I'M PREGNANT!"

"It depends on how you interpret my words."

"HOW DARE YOU! I AM A VIRGIN AND PROUD OF IT! SAY ONE MORE WORD AND I'LL CASTRATE YOU!"

Marik winced. "Fine then. Your little secret may let you enter into a summoning contract with some fine flying beasties. If you can control your royal secret, you can control the rest of its species."

"I don't want to control those monsters. And why do you keep saying it's royalty?"

He looked around. Seeing no one, he lowered his voice. "Blue-eyes White Dragons are considered draconic royalty since they're both rare and insanely powerful. They're the strongest species apart from certain mutations and fusions."

"I don't want it."

"Tough luck," he said.

"And how did you know I was thinking about summoning contracts?"

"I didn't. It was merely chance," he replied. "I heard about your first meeting with Odion. You need a summoning contract to properly defend yourself. Odion won't always be there to save you."

"Are you calling me weak?"

"No, far from it, but you would be so much stronger if you had a summoning contract."

"I've tried summoning contracts with beasts and winged beasts, but they rejected me."

"That's unusual. I haven't heard that before."

"Dragons are very hard to control. Plus, weaker monsters rejected me. How am I supposed to get a summoning contract with strong creatures and be able to control them?"

"It's basic knowledge that you work your way up with strength. Start with weak dragons or babies and gradually move on to the stronger beasts."

"And what's the deal with the egg? Wouldn't it be too hard for me to control?"

"That dragon will be a newborn hatchling. It will have instincts, but it will be highly impressionable. Take advantage of that. Make it realize that you're more powerful than it at least for the time being, or make it think that it will be better off if it obeys you."

"I thought you said that we were bonded. I won't be able to get rid of it for too long according to you."

"That reminds me. Your bond will make it all the easier to control it. It will want to serve you, and it may or may not see you as its mother."

"Well if I'm its surrogate mother, what do I teach it? What does it eat? When does it learn to fly?"

"Teach it anything you want. Dragons are carnivores; you should know that. It should be an adequate flier by the time it's six months old."

"How fast does it grow? Where would I keep it?"

"Dragons grow very fast when they're small. It should be big enough to ride by the time it's eight months old. And I would suggest you don't keep it in your house."

"How big does it have to be before I can ride it?"

"It shoulder should come between your elbow and your shoulder. By then, its body will be strong enough to support you."

"Are you calling me fat?"

"No, far from it. If anything, you need more meat on your bones. Lay off the diet. Eat the extra cookie or two!"

"Kisara," I heard Meg behind me.

"I gotta go. Bye, Marik."

"See ya later, Kisara," he waved cheekily and walked away.

"Kisara, I've been looking for you. Where have you been?"

"On an adventure I'd rather forget than continue."

"What happened?"

I told her about the bandits, temple clerics, the dragon egg, and Marik's and my conversation about summoning contracts.

"I hope you take care of that dragon, Miss," she said.

"That's why I need you, Meg. Can you teleport things?"

"Of course. Do you doubt my magic?"

"Not really, but I need you to do me this favor. You have to teleport that dragon egg somewhere far away. I can't do this," I moaned.

"Kisara Claire Evisti!" I winced at the use of my full name. "Do you even realize how much energy teleporting costs? I can teleport myself and very small objects, but you ask too much of me when asking me this. Besides, it's about time your fear of dragons was cured. It'll be good for you, raising this dragon egg!"

I was stunned. Meg never lost her temper.

"What's wrong, Meg?"

"What's wrong? There's a necromancer among the temple clerics! The unholy among the sacred!"

Now I knew what was bothering her. Even though she was a monster, she used to be a temple cleric. It was why she always wore white.

"How did a necromancer get among their ranks?"

"I wouldn't know, but I could sense pure evil in his heart. It baffles me that he hasn't been evicted from their inner circle!"

"How did you know that he was a necromancer?"

"His aura gave it away. It was dark and gloomy, and there was little to no sanity there. I could sense a Ka within him. They're rarer than ever now that Egypt fell. I daresay that Egypt had many Kas, but the majority were sealed in stone."

"I heard about Kas when Ishizu talked about them. I didn't know that they even still existed."

"They're incredibly rare now. Less than half a percent of people alive now possess them."

"How did you know this necromancer even had a Ka?"

"I sensed it within his aura. It was like a shadow, lurking in the deepest recesses of his soul. This necromancer clearly knows about his Ka. Their auras almost combined, which happens the more that Kas are used. Eventually, their auras will combine into one, and when that happens, this realm and that of the monster realm will be in danger from the shadow realm."

"Why the shadow realm?"

"This creature was both of the monster realm and the shadow realm. Only the most evil creatures dwell in the shadow realm, and the fact that this creature could dwell in both means that the monster realm is in danger, and when the monster realm is endangered, so is our own. Our realms work together, but the shadow realm affects both, even if it is indirectly. The shadow realm, as I'm sure you know, holds the spirits of the dead. That makes necromancy all the worse, for the spirits and monsters summoned from the shadow realm have been touched by evil. Even spirits of light will become corrupted when exposed to the shadow realm for too long. Light spirits corrupted by the shadow realm possess both the powers of light and darkness, and when both combine, chaos emerges. Even if they don't mean it, those spirits will weak destruction among all that it comes in contact with, since the power of chaos dwells within. Let that be another lesson why you shouldn't mess with the spirits of the dead."

"I wasn't planning to become a necromancer," I said.

"Good. I never said you were. I would say that dragons would make the best summons for you."

"Why them?"

"Because you're taking care of a royal dragon, and that might make them more likely to obey you. And because I sensed something else within that necromancer."

"What did you sense?"

"Few people know this nowadays, but there was an ultimate being of darkness eons ago. The gods banished this being from their realm. This being, a god himself, created the shadow realm. Evil ones eventually found the shadow realm, and this being. Together, they cast a spell that would draw all evil to the shadow realm. The creatures of our realm and the monster realm, being imperfect, committed acts of evil, and so that spell drew them into the shadow realm once they died. The only ones safe from the shadow realm were the Blue-Eyes White Dragons, and the ones who possessed them as Kas. There were only two. One was Pharaoh Seto, the other his queen, Kisara."

"I wish I had a Ka."

"I suspect that you might. If Queen Kisara is your past life, which I'm sure it is, you could easily possess a Blue-Eyes White Dragon as a Ka. However, your hatred for dragons may have suppressed it for time being. Even so, I cannot guarantee that you have a Ka in the first place. The only time Kas come out without specifically being summoned is when their host is in mortal peril. The only way I would know for sure would be for it to reveal itself, since I can't sense one within your aura."

"What's my aura like?"

"It's white and filled with love and selflessness and courage. I would bask in it all day if I could, but I'm unable to do it with all my other duties."

"Have you seen Papa?"

"Not since this morning. He disappeared on me. I was hoping you knew where he was."

"I don't. Where did you last see him?"

"He went off to the market to buy you something. He didn't say what."

"Can you sense his aura?"

"I can't. It's probably because there are so many other auras around that I might confuse his aura for another. Sometimes, when there are a lot of people around, their auras seem to mix, and it can be nearly impossible to separate them."

"I wish I could sense auras."

"It's a skill I picked up as a temple cleric. Though it astounds me that the other clerics haven't picked up on the necromancer. I almost wonder if there's something that hides his aura from the other clerics."

"If there is, you might be able to pick up on it because you're not a cleric anymore."

"I bet you're right. Where are the other temple clerics?"

"Their camp is in some field. Or maybe they're in town now. I don't know."

"I'll look for them. You head home. Try finding the Taylors. You might be able to hitch a ride with them."

"Okay, Meg."

"Once you get home, stay there. Don't let anyone in. I'll have a key."

"Even Serenity, Joey, or the Taylors?"

"Don't let ANYONE in. Something's not right."

"Okay, Meg."

"Now that I think of it, I haven't seen the Taylors for a while. It's not safe for you to go alone in the woods now. Stay with me, Kisara. Let's go."

"Okay, Meg," I said again.

We headed to the market. Asking around didn't help us with our search, since the last time he had been seen had been several hours ago. We found out that he had bought something from the jewelry stand, though the shopkeeper refused to say what. I ran into Joey, who couldn't provide us with further details. We searched all over the village, but there was still no sign of him. Evening came, and Meg scrounged up what little money she had with her at the time and we stayed at a tavern for the night. We skipped dinner, since we didn't have enough to pay for it. It was true that it wasn't exactly the first time I had skipped a meal, but my stomach was killing me.

There was a single bed in the room.

"Looks like we're sharing a bunk tonight," Meg said.

She started walking all over the floor.

"Why are you doing that?" I asked.

"I'm testing for creaky spots in case we have to escape from something."

"What would we escape from?"

"I don't know," she sighed.

She encountered several creaky spots, one that was by the bathroom.

"This one's a dead giveaway. It's too big to step over."

I recalled Meg's conversation about the shadow realm.

"Hey, Meg."

"What is it?"

"You were talking earlier about something you sensed within the necromancer, but you never mentioned what it is," I said.

"Ah, yes. Something you said distracted me. This creature from the shadow realm was somehow… different from the other spirits of the shadow realm. It seemed even more… sinister than normal. In fact, it was so malevolent that I suspect it had something to do with Zorc himself. I have never experienced something that evil in all my years as a temple cleric. To know that something so nefarious is among them and they aren't doing anything about it worries me greatly."

"Hold on, Meg. I gotta use the restroom."

I walked to the bathroom, and to my surprise, I didn't hear a creak on the floor by the door.

"Didn't you say that this spot right here was a giveaway?"

"Jump on it."

I did. I heard a terrible screech, but it didn't come from the creaky floor. Oh no, it came from the creature that reached its green hand out of the floor and grabbed my leg. I screamed as the rest of the creature came out of the floor and attacked me.

Meg fired a blast of lavender magic at the creature. It let go of me and tried to bite Meg. She modified her magic to bind the creature's arms and legs to its body. It started trying to thrash its way out of the bonds. Even though it was squirming so much, I got a good look at it. It had very sharp claws on both of its hands. It was green and had red spots on its arms and body. It had what looked like tentacles on its mouth and a short dark mane on the back of its neck. Its too-many eyes matched the red spots on its body, which was covered with black markings. It seemed to try to avoid looking at sources of light.

"Meg, this thing doesn't like light. Use that to your advantage!"

"Of course it doesn't. It's called a Wall Shadow for a reason."

"Can you get rid of it?"

"Yes."

"Will you please do so?" I asked with mock formality.

"Why, yes. I think I shall," she replied with the same mock formality in her voice.

She fired another blast of lavender magic at the creature. Purple electricity stunned the Wall Shadow, and slowly but surely, it disintegrated.

"That was nasty," I commented.

"Indeed it was. It takes a powerful spell to fuse a Shadow Ghoul with the walls and floors of buildings. I'm afraid that the necromancer was at work here. Shadow Ghouls are zombies, which you know are necromancer's personal summons. Fusing it with the wall made it lose its zombie status, which means it won't come back unless the necromancer reanimates it. But it takes powerful magic to reanimate corpses, and this one is so thoroughly destroyed that it probably won't be worth it to restore it to its original form. Plus, he would have to refuse it with the walls of the building. It's just not worth the effort."

"Can you place wards around this room?"

"Oh, definitely. It was probably waiting for us to fall asleep before it planned on attacking."

She started chanting, and the walls, ceiling, and floor had a slight lavender glitter to them. Meg's wards were working.

"I'm going to use the restroom. Then I'm hitting the hay," I said.

"Okay. I'll go ahead and get under the covers."

"Good night, Meg."

"Sleep well, Kisara."

I opened the bathroom door. The room smelled slightly musty, and the mirror was slightly foggy. Small flecks stuck to its surface.

_Oh well. You can't have everything in life_. _A clean mirror here is just one of those things._

When I left the bathroom, Meg was already asleep. I climbed into bed next to her and fell asleep, wondering where Papa was.

**Author's note: Yes, I finished this chapter! It was fun writing it. The next chapter is going to be interesting. Where is Kisara's father? And what is she going to do about the White Stone of Legend? I'll try to write the next chapter faster, I promise! :D Reviews are always welcome! Plus, if you give me ideas for the story, I might just incorporate them. ;)**

**Seto will appear in a few chapters. It isn't time for him to appear in the story just yet.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh or its characters/monsters. You all should know that by now.**

I woke up more refreshed that I thought I would be. Despite the Wall Shadow haunting my dreams every now and then, I was in a good mood. Then I remembered Papa. Where was he?

Meg had left a note on the door.

_Kisara, _

_I'm working in the kitchens downstairs to earn more money. You know as well as I do that we barely scrounged this room last night. Meet me there._

_Meg_

I stretched and opened the door. To my surprise, I saw Serenity outside the door.

"Serenity, what are you doing here?"

"I _work_ here, Kisara. What are you doing here?"

"We had to spend the night. Papa's gone missing," I said.

"What?"

"I haven't seen him in two days, Serenity."

"That's awful! I'll ask if anyone's seen him. I got Meg that temporary job in the kitchens."

"I owe you, Serenity. Is she still there?"

"She was the last time I checked."

"I've gotta find her."

"Wait, Kisara. You're forgetting your bag."

"Thanks," I said.

"I'll get it," she said. "Ugh, this is heavy. What's in here?"

I mentally berated myself for forgetting my recent burden. The dragon egg.

"A temple cleric told me to put this white stone in here."

"Can I see it?"

"Sure."

She opened my bag. The egg glittered in the sunlight.

"Do you mind if I take it out?"

"Not at all."

She pulled the egg out of my bag.

"Kisara, look at this. I think it's an egg!"

I looked around and then lowered my voice to a whisper.

"It's a White Stone of Legend. A dragon egg."

"Why do you have this?"

"The temple cleric told me to raise it."

"What kind of dragon is it?"

"White dragon," I muttered.

"But those are really rare! I'm surprised they're not raising the dragon themselves!"

"They kept going on about how we have some inescapable bond. I'm stuck with it for life."

"I'm sorry," she said. She knew exactly why I hated dragons.

"Me too," I replied.

"Where are you going to keep it?"

"Definitely not in the house."

"I hate to have to break up this conversation, but I have to clean the room now. I'll talk to you later."

"Please don't tell anyone about the dragon egg."

"I won't. I promise."

"Thanks, Serenity."

"No problem. I'll see you later Kisara."

"Bye, Serenity."

"Bye."

I walked downstairs. The barmaid asked if I wanted anything. I declined, having no money.

"Your accomplice has more than paid off enough for you to have breakfast."

"Thanks, but I'm not really hungry."

Of course, that's when my stomach growled.

"You can have your food for free. You didn't have dinner, did you?"

"No."

"Then your food's free. Might I ask why you didn't eat anything last night."

"We spent all our money on the room last night."

"Come to think of it, I know you live on the outskirts of town. Why did you stay here in the first place?"

"Papa's gone missing. Meg had us stay here because she doesn't think it's safe to go back to our house."

"Madam, why didn't you say anything?"

"I don't know," I said truthfully.

"Well, what do you want to eat?"

"A turkey sandwich would be nice."

"You skipped dinner. What else would you like to eat?"

"I guess I'd like scrambled eggs and an apple."

"What do you want to drink?"

"Milk will be fine."

The barmaid started getting the food from the kitchen. She sat me down at a table and handed me some napkins. I began to eat (my stomach was singing my praises). I normally had better food at home, but I was so hungry that I didn't care about the taste. After wolfing down my breakfast, I headed to the kitchen. Meg was washing the dishes via means of a spell.

"Hey, Meg."

"Good morning, Kisara."

"How have you been."

"I've rarely had to use magic so frequently. I'm tired, but I don't feel tired. It's somewhat hard to explain."

"I think I get it."

"So, how have you been?"

"The barmaid gave me breakfast for free."

"She did for me, though I guess working in here is payment enough."

"Serenity works here."

"I saw that. I never knew she had a job here."

"Me neither."

"When do you want to head out?"

"You just missed everyone else staying here. They all came down at once and finished eating everything at the same time. It'll still be a little longer."

"Should I go ahead?"

"I suppose. Where do you want to meet?"

"I don't know."

"Meet me by the fountain in the town square at around noon. I'll have done a little searching of my own by then."

"Okay. I'll see you later, Meg."

"Take care of yourself, Kisara."

I left the tavern and started asking around. No one that I asked had seen any sign of him.

_Papa, where are you?_

"Kisara, there you are!"

I looked and saw Vivian Wong.

_Oh great._

"Yes, here I am."

"It's been decided."

"What?"

"You need a boyfriend."

"Excuse me?"

"Everyone else our age has one!"

"Even Duke Devlin?"

"Every other girl our age," she corrected.

"So I was right," I teased.

"Don't talk about Schnookiums that way," she yelled.

"Schnookiums?" I started to laugh.

"My boyfriend! Duke Devlin."

"I knew there was something between you two."

"He's only the dreamiest-"

"That's nice, Vivian. Have you seen my dad?"

"-most handsome, charming Dukey poo on the face of the planet!"

"Dukey poo? That's even worse than Schnookiums. And were you even listening?"

"Huh?"

"My dad has been missing for two days. Have you seen him?"

"No, I haven't."

"Has ANYONE seen him?"

"I wouldn't know," suddenly she let out a squeal and started waving ecstatically.

"DUKEY POO!"

I facepalmed. Of course, Vivian would be no help. I should have realized it as soon as I saw her.

"Kisara!"

I turned around and saw a panicked Rebecca running towards me.

"I found your Dad!"

"What? Where is he?"

"He's tied up in my closet!"

"What? How did he get there?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. He's been gagged, though I cut the rope doing it. He really doesn't look okay."

"Show me!"

We started running to her house. She led me up the stairs to her closet. When I saw him, he barely seemed to recognize me. He was almost as pale as me and drenched in sweat. There were several cuts across his face, and he had dark circles under his heavily lidded eyes. He was breathing deeply, and he seemed to wince each time he breathed, almost as if he had a broken rib or two. Bruises were everywhere his clothes weren't covering him, and I was sure there were plenty more under his clothes. There was a rope binding him that I could see Rebecca had tried to cut, but the rope was too thick or the knife too dull.

"Papa!"

"Ki… sa… ra…"

"He needs water, fast!" I turned and saw Meg running up the stairs.

"I've got it here," Rebecca's grandfather came right after her.

Meg lifted Papa's head and poured the water down his parched throat. Then she used a spell to break the rope binding him.

"Thank… you," he said.

"He needs medical care immediately. I'll need help transporting him. Kisara?"

I nodded in understanding. I put his arm around my shoulder, while Meg did the same with his other arm. He was very weak, barely able to move his legs as we walked him down the stairs.

A wagon was waiting outside the door. A chestnut draft horse was pawing impatiently, raring to go.

We loaded Papa, and Mr. Hawkins started the wagon to the healer's house. With Meg's assistance, hopefully we would be able to heal him.

People scurried out of our way. When we got to the healer's house, we were shocked to find the door broken in.

"Hello?" Meg called.

We didn't hear an answer.

"Hello?" Meg repeated, louder.

We still didn't hear anything.

"I'll investigate. Stay with Mr. Hawkins."

Meg ran into the house. I peered in and saw broken pieces of ceramics and glass all over the floor. It seemed that there was a struggle. Then we heard a high-pitched scream.

"Don't kill me too!"

"I'm not going to kill you," Meg said.

"I don't care what she said, I'm following her," I said to Mr. Hawkins. "MEG! What's going on?"

"The healer's dead. It seems her daughter saw the murder. She's very distressed."

"Hang on, I'm coming!" I ran upstairs to where I heard Meg's voice.

A little girl with blond curly hair was crying into Meg's shoulder. Then I saw the healer with a knife plunged into her chest. There was no way she would have survived. An expression of shock and horror was etched on the face that would never move again.

"First your father gets this kind of injury, then the healer's dead. What's next?" Meg said, exasperated.

"I don't want to find out."

"Do me a favor, Kisara."

"What do you need?"

"Find me her books on healing. I'm going to see if I can find a spell or two that will help out."

"Understood." I searched her bedroom, but there wasn't a single book. I looked all through her house, even in her cupboards, but I wasn't any luckier.

It dawned on me that the broken glass and ceramics I had seen on the floor had been next to a bookshelf. I raced there and saw a torn page stuck in the crack in a place where the wood joined. Someone stole the books on healing. Without them, there was no hope of healing Papa. I walked back upstairs with a heavy heart.

"Meg?"

"Did you find the books?"

I took a deep breath. "They're gone. It seems like they were taken in a hurry. That's why there are so many pieces of broken glass on the floor there."

"Something's not right."

"That's the understatement of the year, but none the less true for it," I saw Mr. Hawkins walking up the stairs.

"Mr. Hawkins, did you hear everything?"

"No, but I know quite enough. Our entire village is threatened. I fear we are under attack."

"Why us?"

"I don't know, but think about it. This is a small village on the very edge of this country. Unless we send someone to get reinforcements today, word won't get around fast enough to prevent anything. Even then, it still might be too slow. The healer was killed. She didn't have an apprentice to take over. We have no one else who specializes in healing. Without a healer, we won't be able to resist whoever is endangering us for long. Your father was attacked, possibly to extract information about this village. I asked him who did it, but he can't seem to remember. We are in grave danger."

"Truer words have never been spoken, Arthur," Meg said. "Where's the mayor?"

"The mayor is rallying support in the town square. He's obtaining messengers to get help."

An idea occurred to me. "The temple clerics!"

"What?" Meg asked.

"The temple clerics should still be in the area!"

"Kisara, you're a genius," she said. "They're still in that clearing, right?"

"Maybe," I said.

"I need you to run there as fast as you can. If they're there, ask for assistance and see if they have a healer for your father."

"I will," I said.

"Best of luck to you, Kisara."

"Thanks, Meg," I said, running as fast as my legs would take me.

I ran into Marik while I was heading to the clearing.

"Kisara, what-"

"Marik! You're a temple cleric!"

"Had you already forgotten?"

"No, I need your help."

"I see you couldn't resist my manliness-"

"Are there any healers with you?"

"Yeah, Ishizu is the best healer I know."

"I need you to get her now!"

"Now? What's going on?"

"Our healer was murdered, and Papa is greatly hurt," I said.

"I'll see if we can stay in the area for much longer. This sounds like trouble."

"No duh."

"Right. I'll get her." He started to run.

"Wait up!"

Marik didn't seem to hear. I had already been out of breath when I found him. When I reached the clearing, I was about to pass out. Odion ran up to me.

"Kisara, what are you doing here?"

"Our town needs a healer and fast."

"What's going on?"

"Papa was brutally tortured, and our healer's dead."

"Marik was asking for her. I haven't seen him that excited since someone spiked his drink."

"What? Marik, the _temple cleric_, got _drunk_?"

"Yes, and Ishizu had to work up some pretty powerful spells to return him to semi-normal."

"You mean he's abnormal?"

"Oh, not him. Never Marik."

I laughed.

Ishizu and Marik came riding on one of the magnificent white horses I had seen the last time I had come to the clearing. Each was holding onto the reins of another horse.

"Kisara, do you know how to ride?" Marik asked.

"Sort of…"

"Climb on. It'll come to you soon."

I hesitantly climbed onto the horse while Odion did the same with the other. I kicked the horse on, and it immediately sprang into a gallop.

"Lead the way, Kisara," Ishizu said.

I spurred the mare on. We reached town in a matter of minutes. Papa and Rebecca were waiting outside the healer's house, her grandfather and Meg close behind.

"Is that him?" Ishizu asked, peering at his injuries.

"Yes."

"I daresay you resemble your mother, Kisara," she said, looking at Meg.

"She's not my mom."

"Your surrogate mother, then. It's been, too long, Gyakutenno Megami."

"You've grown, Ishizu. And call me Meg."

"Do you remember any healing magic?"

"It's been so long since I've used it that I don't trust my skill with it."

"You're right. Healing magic is something you want to constantly use if you don't want to lose it."

"Indeed. Will you do the honors?"

"Yes." Ishizu started to chant, and Papa's cuts and bruises started to heal as a green glow spread across his body. His breathing became easier, so I suspected that the magic healed his broken ribs.

"How is he?" I asked as the green light faded.

"He had four broken ribs, as well as numerous cuts and bruises. The ropes were so tight that they cut off circulation for a while. I've healed it enough that he should still be able to use his arms and legs. He'll need rest for a while."

"I can't thank you enough, Ishizu."

"It's my pleasure, as well as my duty."

"Indeed. A temple cleric's main duty is to the gods, then the people," Meg said.

"Where can we find another healer?"

"For the time being, we the temple clerics will stay in this village. The air reeks of darkness."

"Do you know about the necromancer?" Meg asked Ishizu.

"A necromancer? Where is he?"

"That's the thing. I don't know where he is. Assuming the necromancer is a he, of course."

"Ask the young girl whose mother was killed what her murderer looked like. That could help narrow our search."

"Miss," Meg called. The teary little girl came out.

"Yes?"

"What did your mother's killer look like?"

She looked at Marik. "He looked like him."

"But I was in the clearing all day yesterday after I left town. It can't have been me!"

"Peace, Marik. Your alibi is clear, as I was with you the whole time." She addressed the little girl again. "Did he look any different?"

"His hair was more gray and he had a huge scar on his right eye. But his eyes looked the same."

"Bakura!" Odion exclaimed.

"That would fit. I didn't know he was a necromancer, though. How could we have missed it?" Ishizu seemed furious, both with this "Bakura" and herself for not noticing.

"No offense, but how did someone like him get into your ranks?" I asked.

"It was an request given by one of our associates. He said that his friend's son was causing trouble, and he wanted us to unlock his inner light. So far, our attempts have been unsuccessful. But to think that he would stoop this low…"

"Yesterday, there was a Wall Shadow in our inn room. Meg killed it after it attacked us. Is it possible that this Bakura summoned it?"

"It is very possible. He overheard us talking about the White Stone of Legend. I'll bet he's trying to get it for himself. How is it, by the way?"

"I don't know."

"I'll get back to your mayor about it. The egg was entrusted to one of his citizens," she said, looking at Mr. Hawkins.

Papa stirred in his sleep.

"PAPA!" I said, hugging him.

"Hello, Kisara. What happened to me?"

"You were attacked."

"What?" he seemed dazed.

"Do you remember anything?"

"No. What are the temple clerics doing here?" he asked, looking at the Ishtars.

"Your healer was killed. We're staying here until we can get your village another healer."

"Veria's dead?"

"Yes. Her daughter survived, though she's very traumatized."

Papa looked at the small child. "If it's alright with her, we'll take her home with us."

"Is it okay with you?" Meg asked the small child.

"I want Mommy!" she whined and started to cry again.

"It's okay," Meg said softly, cradling the child.

"No it's not! Mommy's gone and I'll never see her again!" With this, she cried even more earnestly.

"She's precocious," I said quietly to Rebecca.

"Mmhmm."

We heard hooves clopping on the cobblestone road. The mayor had ridden up.

"Greetings, temple clerics," he said.

"Greetings to you as well," Ishizu said.

"I hear Veria's dead. Is this true?"

"I'M NEVER GOING TO SEE MOMMY AGAIN!" the little girl screamed.

"I'm afraid it's true," said Odion, who hadn't spoken much.

"This is terrible news. I've sent runners to get help from nearby villages and to let the capital know of our plight."

"Will that be enough?" Marik asked.

"I can only hope so."

"Bastian was attacked," Meg said. (AN: Bastian is Kisara's father. He has golden brown hair, hazel eyes, and slightly tanned skin.)

"What?"

"He can't remember anything about the attack, so we have no leads on who did it. We have a suspect, however. He looks similar to Marik, but he has a scar over his right eye and grayer hair. His name is Bakura," Ishizu added.

"I'll remember that," the mayor said.

"Thank you," Meg said.

"It's my job to care for my citizens," he said. "Bastian, Megami, and Kisara, you may stay in Veria's home. I'll have someone move your belongings here. I'm afraid that the outskirts of town aren't as safe as they used to be."

"Thank you," Papa said.

"Like I said, it's my duty to care for the citizens of this village."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

That night, our belongings that could be moved were brought to the new house.

Poppy (who was very hard to catch to be brought here) jumped on the counter and stole some broccoli florets before Meg shooed her away. Meg made stew for us all, though Zoe (the healer's daughter) barely touched her food out of grief. We didn't say much, because the events of the past few days had seemed too surreal.

I went to bed wondering what would be next…

**So, what do you think? The next chapter is going to be BIG! I won't spoil what happens, but you'll find out the reason why I called this story Slip Up. Stay tuned, and review, please! Internet cookies to whoever reviews! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer – I don't own anything but the storyline and my original characters. You get the picture.**

I woke up and found Poppy asleep on my pillow. When I sat up, she jumped two feet in the air then gave me a look that clearly said, "Feed me."

_Jackalopes. Do they ever get stomachaches?_

"Okay, Poppy," I said. "Let me change first."

Looking through my clothes, I saw a black leather zippered tank top I hadn't worn in a while, a pair of black leather capris, and a black leather skirt with the back being much lower than the front (it's Tifa's outfit from Final Fantasy VII Advent Children – don't own). I put it on, noticing how pale my skin looked when I wore black. I put on black sneakers and headed down to get Poppy some food.

I saw Zoe munching on Cheerios when I came down.

"Hi," she said, very glumly. Clearly, she was still grieving over her mother.

"Hi, Zoe. How are you?"

"Good," she said monotonously. She took another bite of Cheerios.

"Good. They're going to do the annual festival tonight. Do you wanna go?"

"Sure." Again, the monotone.

"Oh come on. It'll be fun."

"Whatever," came the reply.

"I know this might sound like I don't care, but I really do. Try to remember the good times you had with your mother. Wouldn't she want you to be happy?"

"The more I think about her, the more I miss her." Her eyes started to tear up again.

Poppy, who had followed me down the stairs, sensed Zoe's immeasurable sadness and rubbed her head against her leg, much like a cat would. Zoe reached down to pet her, and then Poppy hopped in her lap. Whatever it was about animals, they sure had the ability to cheer people up. She seemed to forget about her terrible loss, even if it was just for a split second.

I poured myself some Cheerios and sat next to Zoe.

We ate breakfast in silence.

Meg came in with eggs and bacon, but by that time, I already had finished my breakfast and wasn't hungry anymore.

"You need to eat more than Cheerios if you want to get meat on your bones," she had said as I walked out.

I wandered around town, looking at all the decorations being set up for the festival. People were sweeping the streets. I grabbed a broom and joined in the efforts. Many people came to our small, quiet village for the storytelling festival. Most of its excitement came with the festivals.

I saw travelers in worn clothing riding on various creatures. Some came on horses, mules, donkeys, and camels. Those were the main animals that would fill our stables. However, there were many other methods of transportation. One carriage was pulled by goats. Someone came riding a chimera. The most shocking visitors had come on a Blizzard Dragon wearing clothing suited for winter.

_That one won't last too long in the heat of the day_.

I tried to look perfectly nonchalant as the man landed near me.

"Do you know where a lake is so Farore can cool off?" he asked me.

"Is that your dragon?" I asked.

"Yes. He's a Blizzard Dragon, so this warm weather isn't too good for him. Not to mention, this long journey has made him hungry, so he'll need to hunt."

I couldn't help but notice the dragon hungrily eyeing a passing donkey.

"If he heads south for about a mile and a half, there are a bunch of small lakes. There will be plenty of fish for him to eat."

"Oh, he loves fish. Well, you heard the nice young woman, Farore. Go south for a mile and a half. Pick any one of the lakes."

The dragon grunted in reply and took off.

"So where is a cheap tavern? I don't have much coin on me," he asked.

"The one I would suggest is the Black Phoenix. They're really reasonable there. If that one's too much, a good one is the Merry Meadow."

Thank you," he said, grabbing my hand.

"Hey, what are you-"

He smiled and placed a gold coin in my hand and closing my fist before walking away.

"Thank you," I said.

"No, thank you."

I turned back to my work before feeling a tap on my shoulder.

"I'm surprised you didn't panic with that dragon so close to you," Rebecca said.

"Me, too, Rebecca. Me, too."

"Let's get lunch. I'm starving."

"What do you want?"

"Chicken sounds good to me. What about you?"

"I just ate Cheerios, so I'm good."

"_Cheerios?_ You can do better than that, Kisara."

"It was out, and I was hungry. What do you expect?"

"I expect you to do better. Let's get some chicken."

"Fine," I said.

"Kisara, look at you, you're a toothpick."

"I'm aware."

"We need something more fattening than chicken."

"What are you thinking? Besides, I'm not anorexic."

"SO FATTEN YOURSELF UP!"

"Well, what are you thinking?"

"Fries. With lots of salt. You're getting a large and you are eating all of it."

"If you're paying. Remember, I come from a poor fishing family that was migrated away from the lake where we made our living. We won't have money for long."

"Then I'll pay. Gramps has plenty of money. Stop trying to talk me out of making you eat."

"Okay, sheesh."

"Ooh, fried chicken. I'm getting that," Rebecca said, stopping at a booth.

"I'm moving on," I said.

"No, you're not. You will eat this drumstick and you will like it."

"Whatever."

Anything else I would have said was cut short when Rebecca stuffed the chicken in my mouth.

"Mmmmmm. Thish ith goothe."

"Glad you like it. We're getting you your large fries now."

"Whatever you say, Rebecca."

She grabbed my hand and pulled me to another food stand.

"Large fries and about twenty pounds of chocolate," Rebecca said, placing coins on the counter.

"Here you go," the man said.

"Thank you," Rebecca said. "Now eat your fries, Kiki."

"Kiki?"

"That's your newest nickname."

"I like my real name. Why does everyone give me nicknames?"

"Because it's fun watching your facial expressions whenever we do. Eat your darn fries!"

"Okay, okay," I said, wolfing down the fatty, greasy, salty goodness known as fries.

"Hey, Kisara!"

"Tea!"

"I'm going to dance tonight!"

"Huh?"

"Surely you didn't forget about the festival tonight?"

"I remember."

"And the big party they throw before they tell stories?"

"I'll be serving food tonight."

"Don't try to get out of it, Kisara. You're the only one besides Rebecca here that doesn't have a boyfriend."

"Hey! You're the one stealing my Yugi-muffin!"

"He asked me out, not the other way around, short stuff!"

"What did you call me?"

Sensing an incoming catfight, I tried to change the subject.

"So, assuming I get a break from my kitchen duties, who should I dance with?"

"Try some cute city boy," Rebecca said. "There should be a nice selection tonight."

"Or maybe Ryou," Tea suggested.

"Bakura?" I asked.

"You're on last name basis now?"

"No, but why him?"

"Kisara, how dumb are you?"

"What?"

"Have you _seen_ the way he looks at you? Or that blush he gets whenever he talks to you?"

"But he's always like that around girls."

"Not around me. Unless you're nearby."

"What do you think of him?" Rebecca asked.

"I'm happy just being friends."

"But would you be happier being more than just friends?" Tea inquired.

"I don't know."

Desperately looking for a change in topic, I scanned the crowd. My eyes landed on Marik, so I ran to him.

He looked at me. "My manly charm, 5000 and 1. Ladies, 0."

"What manly charm? You look rather effeminate, ma'am."

"That stung, Kisara."

"I need your help, Marik."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. How do you make female friends stop hounding you for information about your boyfriend, whether he actually exists or not?"

"Become a lesbian." **(AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am not against gay people. It's not my decision who others are in relationships with. DO NOT FLAME ME.)**

I gaped at him.

"That's one way," he continued. "Another is to avoid them altogether."

"Did you just tell me to become a lesbian?"

"Maybe."

"You, the temple cleric?"

"Maybe," he repeated.

"You're telling me to become a lesbian?"

"MARIK ISHTAR! YOU COME RIGHT HERE THIS INSTANT!"

He paled.

"Is your mom calling you? What did you do this time?"

"She's not my mom, but she's someone every bit as bad."

"Who?"

"You just set Ishizu on me! Why did you have to set her on me?"

"Haha."

"MARIK! NOW!"

"I gotta run. No, seriously. I have to avoid her next beating. Catch ya later!"

He started running through the crowd, Ishizu in hot pursuit.

"Kisara, did he say where he was going?" she panted.

"He headed that way. Said something about avoiding a beating from you," I replied.

"_Marik,_" she sighed, shaking her head.

"Boys will be boys."

"No kidding."

"Rebecca, why did you follow me?"

"I want to hear your answer," she said.

"You already heard it. I honestly don't know."

"You're hopeless."

"Hopeless and proud of it," I said.

"I have to catch Marik. If you'll excuse me, I'll be on my way," Ishizu said.

"Bye Ishizu!"

"Farewell."

I watched her beautiful dress flow as she walked away.

_As much as I hate dresses, I want that one._

"Kiki, you have to get to work. The feast's about to start."

"Roger that. I'll be off now."

"Bye, Kiki," Rebecca said.

"Bye, short stuff."

"SHORT STUFF?"

I chose to ignore her and get to work.

It wasn't long before I was serving all kinds of food to everyone in the village. Rebecca hadn't been kidding. There was a very nice selection of cute city boys. Two in particular stuck out to me. One was a fair-skinned blonde with sparkling blue eyes and a smile that could charm a cobra. The other was very tall and had rich chocolate brown hair and cerulean eyes that seemed like they were trying to hide a lot of pain. Neither one said anything to me, but the blonde winked at me before walking away. It was only after I had served loads of people for an hour that I was able to take a break and eat my own food. The cheese wontons I snagged were delicious, and I was in line for seconds when someone bumped into me from behind.

"Oh, sorry, that was entirely my fault."

It was the cute blonde. He had a deep voice that made me want to squeal with delight. I wasn't sure why, but I started to like him almost immediately.

"No, that's fine."

"Well, since we'll be in line for a while, why don't we start a friendly conversation? I'll start with asking you your name."

"That wasn't a question. That was a statement. And it's Kisara."

"That's an unusual name. Mine's Alukan."

"That has a nice ring to it."

"Thank you. I like your style, and I haven't even known you for five minutes," he said, laughing. "So, do you have any hobbies?"

"What sane person doesn't?"

That glorious laugh again. "I'll admit that you would have to be pretty pathetic not to have any hobbies. So, what are your hobbies?"

"Well, mine are reading, drawing, gardening, and playing the piano. I'm awful at sports."

"As for me, I love doing sports. My favorites are martial arts and fencing," he said.

"So you're a warrior."

"I'm training to be one."

"How hard is it?"

"Kind of hard if you don't like physical activity," he winked.

"And if you do?"

"Still kind of hard."

"So, where are you from?"

"I'm from Beirta. It's a small village way out west. What about you?"

"I've been all over. I've lived in Niltor, Sarden, Mishi, and here in Gonaga."

"You live here?"

"Yep."

He cleared his throat. "So, what's your family like?"

"Well, we kind of adopted a little girl named Zoe after her mother died. Then there's Meg. She's a Monster, but she's practically a second mom. And Papa. He fished for a living."

"I noticed your use of the past tense."

"Bandits kept attacking the surrounding area of Gonaga, so we were evacuated here."

"What about your mother?"

"Dead."

"What happened?"

"A Magna Drago ignited our house when I was nine. She got burned really badly, and Meg wasn't able to heal her in time."

"I'm so sorry to hear that," he said sympathetically. "I'm an orphan, so I decided to make a name for myself. That's why I became a warrior."

"Do you have any siblings?"

"I have a little sister, but we were separated while we were living on the streets. I haven't heard from her since."

"That's awful."

"That's life," he replied matter-of-factly. "It's never fair."

"No, it isn't."

"Well that was somewhat depressing. Let's try a happier topic. What's your favorite food?"

"Do you have multiple personalities or something?"

Once again, Alukan's glorious laughter filled the air, sending shivers down my spine. Forget the attractive brunette, this guy was a keeper.

"So what is it?"

"Answer my question before I answer yours," I demanded.

"Being a chivalrous knight, I say ladies first."

"Exactly. Go ahead and answer my question."

"Jerk. No, I don't. I just try to avoid depression."

"Mmhmm. I like fried stuff."

"I could live off of pasta myself."

"Pasta is good, too."

We had finally reached the table with the cheese wontons. After piling my plate, I headed back to my table, Alukan following closely behind.

"So, would wontons be your favorite fried food?" he asked.

"That, and just plain fries."

"Good answer."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mai smile at me and mouth the words "good choice." I stuck my tongue out at her in retaliation.

"What was that for?" Alukan asked.

"Oh, she's just trying to pair me up with any random stranger I meet."

"Me?"

"Possibly. I don't really know. She and all my other friends complain about my lack of a boyfriend."

"Meaning me?"

"Aren't you the bold one?"

"You said that she was trying to pair me up with you."

"Mai was implying it."

"What's her last name? She seems familiar somehow," he said.

"Mai Valentine."

"I didn't know you-"

"It's not like that. She had weird parents. Her name is Mai Valentine."

"She looks awfully like someone from Beirta."

"Her family's from around Beirta. You've probably met one of her cousins."

We continued our nice chat for a while. Before long, they started setting up for the traditional dances that they would do until late into the evening (dinner was served early for the festival).

"Would you care to be my partner for the first dance?" Alukan asked.

_Are you kidding? Why wouldn't I?_

"Sure, I guess. As long as you don't have two left feet like me," I replied.

"I'm… fair… at dancing."

He took my hand in his as we walked to the village square as the soft music played. He had made the understatement of the year. He was a _phenomenal_ dancer. It ended up being that we danced the first several songs before Tea pulled me away.

"So, Kiki, what do you think of him?"

"I think he's a human."

"A human, or a MAN?" Mai waltzed up to us.

"Don't you have a crazy boyfriend to intimidate?" I asked.

"Joey?"

"No, _Tristan_. YES, the young Wheeler male you kissed."

"He went off for some food."

"Typical guy."

"Didn't dinner end an hour ago?" Tea asked.

"No. Thirty minutes ago."

I hadn't realized how long I had been dancing with Alukan until then.

"So, back to our original conversation topic. You discovered a very fine specimen of man, hon," Mai said coyly.

"Eh."

"Eh? Don't _eh_ me. I saw the way you two were looking at each other. You would make the cutest couple ever."

"Eh."

"You must be really proud of being hopeless."

"You finally got it," I said.

"So, what's his name?" Tea asked.

"Alukan."

"Ooh, that has a nice ring to it."

"Nice manly charm," Mai added.

"Have you seen Serenity?"

"Not for a while. She was with Tristan for a while. Then I don't know where she went."

"Oh well," I said. "Oh, hi, Ryou."

"Hello, Kisara. I…" he trailed off.

"You want a dance?"

"Um… yes, I guess," he blushed.

He shyly took my hand. The song was a short one, and neither one of us said very much. We parted somewhat awkwardly, but still very much on good terms. After dancing with Bakura, I saw the brunette who caught my eye earlier walking into the woods. I didn't think much of it, and it soon left my mind because I danced with Alukan again. I was starting to get tired after all the dancing, but he still seemed full of vitality. After a few dances, I had to take a break.

"I'll go with you," he had said.

"No, you enjoy yourself."

"Are you sure?"

"I'll be fine."

"If you say so."

I waited a while before I saw Serenity.

"Where have you been?"

"At home. I think Dad threatened Mom. She was crying her eyes out."

"Oh." I knew exactly what she meant.

"The next song is the last dance. You need to do that."

"Fine. I'll find Alukan."

"That heartthrob you were with earlier? He's gorgeous."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Looking for me?" he appeared behind me.

"Yes. Last dance?"

"Why, that's what I was going to ask you."

He took my hand. The last dance was a slow dance, which was probably all my body could take. The faster-paced dances wore me out. The sunset was beautiful, but I had missed most of it.

Finally, the storytelling would begin. There were all kinds of tales. Many were comedies, others were tragedies, and some folk tales. The folk tales were told last. It had been late into the night when Rebecca's dad began the tale of how our village was formed. It was an epic tale of a boy who slayed a Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon that had been terrorizing the lands.

"Artix, he who had a scar over its left eye and a missing talon on his right wing, was finally dead. And the boy, Palin, buried him in the woods north of this village. To this day, the evil that consumed the dragon has caused the area north of here to be barren and no good for farming."

Mr. Hawkins was applauded loudly. I saw a man wearing a hood head north to the wasteland north of our village. I figured that he was probably heading to see if the wasteland was real.

Alukan greeted me again. "I really like you as a person," he said. "Would you show me around the village tomorrow?"

"Like a date?"

"If you want it to be one."

"Tomorrow at ten?"

"That sounds good to me."

"Bye, Alukan," I said.

"Bye, Kisara."

I headed home and drifted to sleep.

* * *

><p>I woke up to an eerie chill in the air. I looked out my window, but it was still dark outside. Clouds were covering the moon. It took a while to notice, but I eventually made out dark blue clouds rolling on the ground.<p>

_That's not ordinary fog. So what is it?_

As if to answer my question, I saw two glowing red lights. I wiped my eyes. The red lights and strange fog were still there. Then it hit me. Those lights were eyes. And it meant that I probably saw a dragon.

It swooped on silent wings, and I saw a scar over its eye. It all came crashing down on me. The scar was over its left eye, and it was missing a talon in its right wing. I looked more closely and realized that it was a Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon.

I looked more closely when the moon peeked out from the clouds.

The dragon silently flew above the town square, and I saw a sinister red light in its mouth.

_A Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon. But something seems different. It somehow looks… creepier than normal. _

I squinted.

_It seems to be decaying. Oh no! It's a zombie! Wait! It has a missing talon on its right wing and a scar over it's left eye. _

The Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon, once the great Artix of legend, had been resurrected and was going to destroy our village…

**Yes, another cliffhanger. I actually had to split this chapter into two parts. You'll find out why I called this story Slip Up in the next chapter.**

**You may be wondering what the deal with Alukan is. Don't worry. This is a Seto x Kisara fic, not a Kisara x Alukan fic. ;)**

**I haven't updated in so long because of stupid exams. But I am still alive. Review, please.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh. You should have realized that by now.**

**THERE WILL BE BLOOD IN THIS CHAPTER. IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO THAT KIND OF STUFF, DON'T READ THIS CHAPTER.**

I stared in horror at the dragon. I wasn't sure what came over me, but I screamed, knowing that the dragon would know where I was by doing so. I heard a yell from downstairs, and Meg ran into my room just as the dragon released the blast. Several buildings were incinerated.

"What on earth?" she said, her eyes adjusting to the light. Then it hit her. "EVERYONE GET OUT! THE VILLAGE IS UNDER ATTACK! KISARA, GET ZOE AND ESCAPE THE VILLAGE! WE'LL MEET UP LATER!"

I nodded and ran to the screaming child's room. She struggled as I picked her up. Then she bit me. Ignoring the pain, I left for the village's nearest exit.

I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw what was coming in the village next.

Through the clouds of dark blue fog that I assumed the dragon was creating, I saw soldiers marching in, and they clearly weren't here to help. Two saw me with Zoe and started chasing after us. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me, but they were still very sore after all the dancing from earlier that evening.

I screamed, and villagers everywhere were pouring out of their homes while the dragon was setting everything ablaze, adding to the chaos. While I was fleeing with Zoe, she managed to escape my grip and fled. I had a split second to decide whether to follow her or continue fleeing the soldiers. I decided to split up so I could lose the soldier more easily. I uttered a silent prayer pleading for Zoe to escape while my legs continued to ache. A stray arrow hit me in the shoulder. I wasn't sure who had fired. It might have been poisoned. It might not have. Either way, I knew I wouldn't last much longer.

I stumbled over a body. I didn't bother identifying it in case it was someone I knew. A soldier was almost upon me when I saw a sword slash his wrist and sever the finger tendons, rendering his hand useless.

While I struggled to get up, I heard sword slashes and two thuds as bodies fell to the ground. I hoped that my savior, whoever it was, was the victor.

"Are you okay?"

I looked up and saw Alukan's face. Nothing had ever looked more beautiful.

"My legs are killing me, and I was hit with an arrow in the shoulder."

"Put pressure on it. Don't remove anything you put on it," he said reassuringly.

"I don't know if it was poisoned or not."

"Can you get up?" he asked.

I tried, but to no avail.

"Here. I'll try not to get your shoulder." I yelped when he picked me up bridal style and started running.

"What are you doing?"

"Saving your life," he replied.

"I'll just slow you down. Go without me!"

"I'm not leaving a friend behind. Besides, I'm a warrior. This is part of the training."

"Picking up damsels in distress who will slow you down while you run for your life is part of your training?"

"Running while lifting heavy things is. Besides, you're actually pretty light."

"Just leave me."

"I'm not leaving you."

He abruptly stopped. I craned my neck and saw a group of three soldiers blocking our way.

He let me down as gently as the situation would allow and drew his sword.

"Run! I'll catch up to you later."

I backed up a little.

"Go!"

I finally started running. It was only seconds before my legs collapsed. I tried and tried to get up, but I was too weak.

I felt a hand grab mine again. Alukan was pulling me up again.

"Let's go," he said, pulling me.

"How do you keep a level head in these situations?"

"Before we even pick up a sword, we have to prove that we can handle the stress of battle."

"However that works, I can't thank you enough for this."

"It's nothing. Come on!" he started pulling me through the streets.

"I'm starting to feel dizzy."

He said nothing but sped up.

"I'm really not feeling good," I said a few minutes later.

"I'll bet that arrow was poisoned. Hold on a second."

He grabbed my waist and swung me over his shoulder before starting to run again.

"I'm not that helpless!"

"I'm not taking any chances and losing you."

It was at that moment when Alukan tripped and lost his footing, and we both fell to the ground. Exactly at that moment, soldiers poured around us and held their swords pointed at us.

"DON'T MOVE OR WE'LL STRIKE!" a soldier ordered.

"Do something!" I whispered.

"Part of being a warrior is knowing when to fall back. It'd be smarter to go with them now and escape later."

"Shut up or we'll set the dragon on you," another cried.

"Are you sure you have the power to control something like that?" You look pathetic," Alukan said.

"I'll slit that pretty throat of yours if you don't shut up," he said.

"Is that all you have in your vocabulary? Shut up?"

"Shut up!"

I sniggered. Another soldier pressed a blade against my throat.

"You're in our hands now. It's up to us whether you live or die," he said.

I was about to swallow, but then I remembered the blade, so I decided to hold back.

"That's better."

Saliva had been collecting like mad in my mouth, and since I couldn't swallow it, I decided to spit it out. I noticed a soldier's eye in front of me.

_Ready, aim, fire._

It hit the target. The soldier flinched in surprise and dropped his sword. While the other soldiers were distracted, Alukan savagely kicked the soldier holding his blade up to my throat. He fell from the blows to his crotch.

"Let's go!" Alukan picked me up again.

"Thank you!"

"You're very welcome."

For the most part, we avoided other soldiers. We had made it to the gate when there was a single man blocking our way. His cloak covered his face. Alukan ran to the side to avoid him, but the hooded figure leaped back into our way. I wasn't sure how he jumped that far.

"Don't make me duel you. Step aside," Alukan ordered.

"Make me," the hooded figure said.

Alukan drew his blade. "I'm giving you one last warning. Move over."

"So the little bumblebee has a sting. Let's see if he knows how to use it," the hooded man drew two swords from the scabbards at his side. I knew Alukan would have a run for his money to escape. He looked at me, then behind the hooded man. I understood. Run while the man was occupied.

"Shall we dance?" the man continued.

Alukan made the first move. The hooded man parried, and then struck with his other sword. Alukan dodged. The duel continued, and then I remembered to run.

The man dueling Alukan knew what he was doing, and anticipated my move towards the exit. He threw one of his swords at me as I was starting to get up. It pierced the back of the skirt thing I was wearing over my capris, and I couldn't move. I gingerly took off the skirt over my shorts, and tried to get up.

Now that the man had lost one of his swords, Alukan matched him more evenly. As my legs were screaming at the effort to stand, I saw Alukan hold his opponent's sword with his blade and run down the length to kick him in the crotch. It worked, and the man fell. Alukan grabbed me again. Then we heard the man chanting. When he was done, Alukan keeled over in pain.

"Are you okay?"

"My muscles feel like they're dying. I've never felt this kind of pain in my life," he said hoarsely.

"He's the necromancer!" I shouted.

"So you figured it out, then. I'll let you know that it was I who resurrected Artix, the Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon, and I will be I who will free the Dark One from his prison!"

"You're Bakura, aren't you?" I asked.

"I am, but names don't matter. All that matters is the fear I will instill in everyone's hearts when they remember that it was I who freed the Dark One."

"You will fail."

He laughed. "That's what all who serve the Light say."

"Let me see your face."

"I suppose I might allow you to see the face of your killer before you die," he removed his hood. Silvery hair adorned a head with a scarred face. A vertical scar ran down his right lavender eye. Two horizontal scars adorned the vertical scar.

"You can't kill me!" I declared.

"Oh, really? Because I seem to recall that out of the two of us, I'm the only one with a weapon."

"I have a Ka," I said, hoping the lie would save me.

He laughed. "So do I."

"Why don't you summon it," I taunted, trying to buy myself some time.

"I already have," he replied.

"So where is it?"

"Right behind you," he said.

I looked and saw nothing. I turned back around to find that Bakura was advancing. Then I noticed that Alukan had vanished into thin air.

"Where did you take Alukan?" I started to back up.

"My spell ensured that he would disintegrate into dust for the wind to blow away. Looks like he's already gone."

I continued to back up in horror until I felt something solid behind me. I looked but still saw nothing. So he had put up a force field. I was trapped.

Suddenly, a mysterious voice popped into my head. It was deep and rumbling, almost like thunder.

**_Tell him you are the past life of Queen Kisara if you want to live._**

I thought I was going crazy. Voices popping in anyone's head were never a good thing.

**_Tell_**_ **him** **now**._

The voice rang with such authority that I was almost compelled to do it. But following voices in your head often led to trouble, so I held back.

**_Tell him or I will do it for you._**

_You can't make me do anything._

To my utter shock, I felt my mouth begin to form words and speak them, but they were not my own.

"Bakura, King of Thieves, release me or the White Dragon will destroy you and your Diabound."

"So you know my Ka's name. I'm surprised you knew."

"I remember all that has happened in my past life. You sacrificed yourself to summon Zorc Necrophades, who was destroyed by one of the ultimate beings of Light. The White Dragon is one of those beings. Submit or be destroyed."

"So your past life is Queen Kisara. I should have realized it the second I saw you. Well, Your _Highness_," I could hear the scorn in his voice, "I'll let you live for now. You may be very useful in my plans. But don't think you're going anywhere. You're coming with me," he said.

To my horror, I saw a hand appear around me and grab me.

"Why don't you say hello to Diabound, Your Highness?"

I looked up and saw a monstrous creature. It had grabbed me with one of its arms and the other one was holding something. Its tail ended with a snake head.

"What's in its other hand?" I asked.

"It's that boy who thought he could best me in a duel."

"Alukan's alive?"

"One of the main rules in life is to never trust a thief. As the King of Thieves, I should be the least trustworthy." He laughed cruelly.

My rage was starting to build. I noticed a light coming from me, but to my surprise, it wasn't red with rage. It was pure white like my hair. Diabound let go of me and cried out, possibly from pain.

I took it as a sign to run, even though my tired legs wouldn't carry me far.

I tried to sprint, but I didn't get far. Whether it was water or blood, I'll never know, but I slipped on something and hit my head, and then everything went black…

**UH OH. Kisara's in trouble now! The slip at the end of this chapter is why this story is called Slip Up.**

**I'm sorry for the short chapter, but I figured you wanted an update, and I honestly thought this would be a longer chapter. Well, it's nice and juicy with plot details. **

**REVIEW PLEASE! **


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Yugioh.**

When I came to, I was in a cage.

_That's lovely. I'm like a circus freak now._

I looked down and saw manacles on my arms and ankles. I tried to stand up again, but my legs wouldn't budge. I tried standing again, and they only moved an inch before yelling at me in pain. I supposed I had been running too much last night.

I looked at my surrounding from what I could see out of the cage bars. I was in a desert, probably somewhere north of the village, since the area north was wilderness. I hadn't been this far north before.

"Alukan!" I called.

I heard no response and feared the worst.

Then I saw him unconscious in another cage, looking pale and bruised. Bakura had done a number on him with that spell.

"I'll take three of the Boston creams and six of the glazed… just put it on my tab…"

That voice, as sad as I was to hear it under these circumstances, gave me more comfort than I realized it could. They had captured Joey, and he seemed okay... for now.

"Joey," I whispered.

"What? My tab's full? Start another tab…"

"Joey!" I hissed.

"Really? Thanks, Mai. I owe you."

Of course, Joey He-Who-Never-Wakes-Up-When-He's-Supposed-To Wheeler continued sleeptalking.

I racked my brains for something that would wake him up. I thought of Serenity and hoped she was safe.

_Serenity!_

"Joey, you've got to hurry! Tristan's in Serenity's bed!"

That woke him up and more. He growled like a dog and started shaking his chains so much that the cage started to rattle. He didn't even seem to know that he was confined.

"LET ME AT HIM! I'LL TIE THAT SON OF A BANSHEE UP WITH POISON IVY AND STUFF HIM IN A BODY BAG FILLED WITH FLAMING POOP AND FLESH-EATING WORMS AND THEN I'LL SET THAT POINTY LITTLE HEAD OF HIS ON FIRE AND ELECTROCUTE HIM-"

"Joey," I started.

"AND THEN I'LL BREAK HIS NOSE AND DISSECT HIM ALIVE AND WATCH HIM BLEED AND THEN I'LL DROWN HIM IN ACID AND STAB HIM IN THE LIVER WITH A DULL KNIFE AND THEN I'LL KILL HIM AND DANCE ON HIS GRAVE FOREVER!" He proceeded to end his ranting with several choice expletives, many in foreign languages before panting and realizing his surroundings.

"Huh? Where am I?"

"You're stuck in a cage in the middle of the desert. Other than that, I can't give you any more information, Joey," I said.

"Is Serenity okay?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen or heard her."

"Oh, no. She'll be stuck alone with Dad."

"Your mom might have survived, too."

"I don't think she did. She was hurt really badly from that dragon's fire."

"She got burned?"

"Oh yeah," he looked glum.

"Well, think about it. Your dad might have died."

"Then she'll be all alone with no one to protect her. I'm really not sure if Mom will make it."

"I'm worried about them, too. Your mom was like a second mom to me. Or a third, if you count Meg."

"You're like a little sister to me, ya know that, Kiki?"

Normally, the nickname would annoy me, but with these circumstances and the rest of that sentence, I took it with gratitude.

"Thanks, Joey."

"It's nothing."

"So, almost-family members should stick together, right?"

"I guess so. Man, I'm worried sick about Mom and Seren."

"I think they'll be okay."

"I really hope so."

"YOU TWO! QUIT YER YAPPIN' AND DON'T START AGAIN," a soldier walked around to our cages.

"Well, what can we do? We're locked in cages with manacles around our wrists and ankles. It's not like we can go anywhere."

"Ya might be plannin' to escape."

"Honestly, were you listening? We weren't planning to escape! And under these circumstances, who wouldn't plan to escape?"

"I hear one word outta you two 'bout escapin', and I'll gag ya, too," he walked away.

"So, where do you think we're headed?" I asked Joey.

"Do you think I know?"

"It was worth a shot."

"I don't blame ya. Whoa, look at him," Joey pointed at Alukan.

"He was helping me to escape when a necromancer made his muscles start to die. I might owe him my life."

"Did you catch his name?"

"It was Alukan."

"Seems like a nice guy. Did ya know him before?"

"We were talking over dinner, and I did most of the dances with him."

"Kiki, I'm just sayin' this, but I think ya kinda like him. I'm not stopping you from dat or anything, but as a sort-of brother, I'm warnin' ya, if he tries anything funny, he's going down."

"Deal. And I don't like him!"

"Almost all the dances with him?"

"Well, he was a nice guy."

"Mmhmm," a fiendish grin spread across his face. "How nice is nice?"

"Joey, it's bad enough that all my female friends tease me about guys. Do you really have to join in?"

"Yep."

"Well if that's how you're going to play, how was that kiss with Mai?" I copied his grin.

"W-what are you talking about?" His eyes widened.

"Don't play dumb with me, Joey."

"Uh, n-nothing happened between us."

"Oh really?"

"Really."

"Because Mai was talking about it. Do you want to know how she would feel if I told her you didn't take it seriously?"

"No," he replied sheepishly.

"Then tell me about it."

"It was… good… I guess?"

I decided to take advantage of Joey again. "So, was it regular, French-style…"

"Huh?"

"Your kiss?"

"Uh… well… it was kinda…"

"What? Slobbery?"

"No. It wasn't slobbery."

'Then how was it?"

"Can we change the subject?"

"But I'm having so much fun making you feel awkward."

"Please?"

"Uh… no."

"_Please_?"

"Fine. But don't think this is the end of the conversation," I grinned wickedly.

"Whatever," he sighed. "Just don't start again it for a while. You're making me miss all of them even more."

"Sorry, Joey. I wasn't thinking. It should have occurred to me." A pit formed in my stomach.

"Eh, neither one of us is used to it."

"I hope this'll end soon."

"Me too, Kiki. Me too."

"So, how long have I been out?"

"I dunno. I tried counting minutes, but I fell asleep."

"I don't remember the desert ever being this close to our village though. Do you think they cast a sleep spell on us?"

"Maybe. I don't remember the desert being so near the village myself. I thought it was like two weeks away."

"Or our landscape has changed drastically."

"Could be either."

"I'll bet it was a sleep spell. I don't see anything but mountains for miles around."

"Me neither."

"I don't think I'll survive this desert. I'll get a sunburn and/or heat stroke."

"It's what happens when ya have pale skin. I'm still not sure how you avoid gettin' a tan. You're in the sun all the time."

"It's one of my talents."

"I guess you're royalty or something. Pale skin is supposed to be a sign of nobility."

The wagons holding our cages stopped abruptly.

"Hey, why'd we stop?" Joey asked.

Anything I would have said was cut short by a terrible screech. I looked up and saw a dragon. The sun was in my eyes, so I only saw a silhouette of the dragon, but it was up so high that I couldn't identify it. I heard the screech again.

"First we get kidnapped, then we get stuck in these cages, and now we're going to get eaten by a dragon? Why is my life going to end so horribly? I didn't even get to say goodbye," I wailed.

"Kisara, I love you, but not that way," Joey said.

"I guess this is where we would normally hug and tearfully say goodbye."

"I guess so, too, but these cage bars are in our way."

I did everything in my power not to cry.

The screech was closer than before. I could tell it was a golden-colored dragon with alligator scales and a body more like a snake than a dragon. Its teeth reminded me of sharks' teeth. However, I had never seen a dragon that looked like this one. I had studied dragons to know how best to avoid them and protect myself from them, but this one was completely alien to me. It somewhat reminded me of a Curse of Dragon.

I screamed because it was headed straight for me. It breathed golden fire while it spiraled downward to me.

_Is this how it's really going to end for me?_

The dragon reached out its spindly front legs and grabbed the top of my cage.

I screamed as loud as I could, and I decided to study the dragon for any weaknesses. It seemed suited well for the desert. Its scales would match with the sand, but as I was looking down, I saw several patches of red clay that would make it stick out like a sore thumb unless its prey was colorblind.

I looked back up at it. I still didn't notice a weakness.

The dragon made a sudden turn in midair, and I slid to the side of my cage. Then it hit me. I was such a toothpick that I could probably fit through the bars of the cage. I stuck out my hand. Nothing happened, so I stuck out my whole arm, but my manacles prevented me from getting any further out the cage.

I resigned myself to accepting death with dignity. After all, I might get to meet my mother sooner than I had imagined.

No such luck came to me. The dragon soared over the mountains over the next few hours. It finally stopped at some castle in a valley where it never would have been located. An unfamiliar insignia adorned the pennants around the castle. The dragon swooped down onto a platform where men with crossbows surrounded us.

"One move, and we'll shoot," one said.

Another stepped forward and unlocked my cage, but he didn't do anything with the manacles.

"Why are you doing this?"

"We're not the ones who captured you and had you sent here," one soldier said.

"Then who is?"

"The master of this castle," he replied.

"Give me his name."

"A slave like you has no right to give orders."

"I'M NO ONE'S SLAVE!"

"Shall we flog her for insubordination?" one asked.

"No," a new voice, a woman's, said.

I looked at the newcomer. She had dark tan skin and long, straight black hair that seemed to absorb the fading sunlight. She was wearing elegant robes of ebony, gold, and burgundy; she carried herself high. Her crimson eyes almost seemed like they could stare into your soul.

"Then what do we do?" the soldier asked.

"Wait for the other prisoners to come. Explain the rules to all of them. She shouldn't be flogged for breaking a rule she didn't know existed."

The men seemed to hold a reverence or fear of this woman. I wasn't sure why they did, but I liked the woman from what I knew of her. She seemed pretty reasonable.

I heard several clangs as more dragons similar to the one that carried me dropped their cages full of prisoners. Alukan looked horrible.

"What happened to this one?" the woman asked, looking at him.

"He was-" I began, but was interrupted.

"SILENCE!" a soldier yelled.

"I ASKED A QUESTION, AND SHE TRIED TO ANSWER. MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE YOU FLOGGED." She had a pair of lungs on her.

The soldier recoiled.

"What were you saying?" she asked me again.

"The Thief King, Bakura, used some spell that made his muscles start to die."

"WHAT? When I see Gozaburo next, I'll be sure to give him a piece of my mind on his alliance with the Thieves' Guild. No good will ever come of it. And I've personally told that little street rat not to use his art on prisoners."

"You know Bakura?" I asked.

"Too well," she replied. "It's his fault I'm here in the first place."

"I'll handle this, Aksira," a new voice said. "You're prone to wandering off topic and going too soft on slaves and prisoners."

"Oh, so being humane is a crime now? It wouldn't surprise me if you wrote the law that made it illegal."

"I said I'll handle this."

"Then I'll leave it in your hands, _Seto_," she said with a chill in her voice. No one missed the glare she gave him as she exited the room.

I finally got a good look at this Seto. My heart dropped as I realized it was the same blue-eyed brunette I had been somewhat attracted to back in Gonaga.

"There will be no fighting, yelling, or rebellions of any way, shape, or form. Any form of disobedience is punishable by actions ranging from flogging to executions and anything in between. You will rise with the first bell and will not rest until the day's work is done. You are not to leave your quarters after curfew. The second bell marks curfew. Your quarters are next to the dungeons. You are to show proper respect to all who rank higher than you. You are all slaves to Gozaburo Kaiba. You are not to look him in the eye unless spoken to by him. If you aren't sure what to do, just do what all the other lowlifes around you are doing."

This guy really got under my skin. He had an ego that I would love to stomp all over. The term "etiquette" was probably foreign to him.

"You are dismissed. I'll have another slave show you to your quarters. AKSIRA!"

"I'm not a slave, Seto," she skulked back into the room, scowling at him.

"Fetch two of your minions and have them show these newbies where to go."

"Why don't you call two of your own? Is second-in-command not a high enough status for you to have your own pawns to rely upon?"

"You had better be grateful we share the title of second-in-command."

"Or else what? I'd be in over my head? I think we all know who's a better fighter, Seto."

"You were planning on demonstrating how short your temper is?"

"Where's your room to talk, Short Fuse?"

"Yours is shorter than mine."

"So what? You're a dud. When you're angry, you're nothing compared to me when I'm provoked."

"You seem awfully agitated, yet you still haven't done anything that I could consider remotely dangerous."

"You had best watch your back, Seto. I hold grudges for a long time."

"Let's see whose can last longer."

I could practically see flames shooting in both their eyes. Seto had started to glow a dark navy blue, and then I saw a monster appear. It was wearing blue armor like the glow around his body.

"Duos is powerless against me, Seto. You of all people should know that."

"Big brother!" I heard a younger voice. A shaggy-haired youth appeared.

"Mokuba, I've told you to stay out of this!"

"Why can't you two just get along?" he pleaded.

"You know we're like sandpaper together."

"Just release Duos. You always lose against her anyway."

Grudgingly, I could tell, Seto released the armored creature.

"There are many times when your little brother is wiser than you, Seto," Aksira said. "Servants!"

Four servants entered.

"You two, take this man to the infirmary. Tell them it's Bakura's handiwork," she pointed to Alukan. "You," she pointed to a boy, "take these gentlemen to their quarters. And you," she pointed to the girl, "take these girls to their quarters. Dismissed."

The servants nodded and did their respective jobs. The servant leading the few of us girls to our chambers was very hyperactive and clumsy. After introducing herself to us (her name was Mana), she broke an ornate vase on a pedestal.

Our quarters consisted of a huge room with stone floors, potato sacks that I figured were blankets, and piles of straw as bedding. The straw reeked.

"Why does the straw smell so bad?" I asked Mana.

"It's the leftover from the stables," she replied cheerfully.

"Why do you sound like that's a good thing?"

"It isn't." She still sounded too happy.

I looked at all the empty piles.

"Which one is mine?" I asked her.

"I don't know. Whichever one you want, I guess."

I picked the one nearest to where I was standing.

"Cool, that one's next to mine," she said jubilantly.

"Great," I said unenthusiastically. She didn't seem to catch on.

"Oh, you'll have to wear the slave outfit. They'll whip you if you don't."

"I don't have one," I said.

"I'll get one for you," she walked off to a pile of what I had thought to be potato sacks. I realized they were actually clothes.

"No, this one's too big," she continued searching through piles of clothes. "I guess you'll have to wear this one."

I looked at it. It really was a long-sleeved potato sack. It would be so short on me that I would be lucky if it reached the middle of my thighs.

"I won't look while you change," Mana said quickly, turning her head.

I took off my black outfit and put on the piece of "clothing".

"Is there anything I can use to tie this tighter? I can just see the wind blowing around me and this potato sack coming up and exposing me."

"Well, there is a little bit of rope. Will that work?"

"I guess it'll have to do," I said glumly. I wrapped it around my makeshift dress several times.

I heard the second bell.

"Do we even get to eat?" I complained.

"I'm sure they'll bring us some food," Mana said.

"Well, I'm hitting the hay. Wake me up when I can eat."

"Okay," she smiled. "Good night."

"Night," I said.

I went back to my (itchy) pile of straw. When I lay down, I saw a horse turd next to my head.

I groaned and wondered when my luck would change.

**Wow. Two chapters in the span of one week. That's got to be a new record.**

**I really have a bad habit of abusing my characters. I mean, I even put a horse turd next to Kisara's head on her pile of straw.**

**So, what do you think? Good? Not so good?**

**REVIEW BECAUSE SO FAR I HAVE HAD ONLY ONE REVIEW FOR THE LAST CHAPTER. :|**


	8. Chapter 8

**I don't own Yugioh.**

I woke up to Mana shaking me.

"What do you want?"

"The first bell just rung. Didn't you hear it?"

"No. I was asleep."

"Well come on! You don't want them to whip you, do you?"

"Why would they whip me?"

"If they suspect anything's out of line, they'll whip you."

"Why?"

"They just do."

I grudgingly began to stand up. I was surprised that my legs didn't pain me at all.

"My legs don't hurt."

"Why would they?" Mana asked.

"When they first captured me, my legs were killing me with pain. I could barely stand for a minute, and it hurt me really badly to walk."

"What had you been doing all day?"

"Lots of dancing and running. I've never been much of an athlete."

"Well, you'll get to do lots of walking around here."

"Why?"

"We're slaves. We do all the work," her voice still sounded too happy for the statement she had just made.

"You make it sound like it's a good thing when it isn't."

"Amen," I heard a voice next to me. I saw a girl with slightly tanned skin, intense brown eyes, and curly auburn hair. (She looks like Cissnei from Final Fantasy.)

"Who are you?"

"I'm Ayari. You're new, right?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm Kisara."

"You've met Mana, I see."

"Yep."

"Just watching her makes me feel tired."

"I know, right?"

"Why?" Mana asked.

"Because you have so much energy!" Ayari said.

"When's breakfast?" I asked.

"Pretty quick," Ayari replied.

"Let's go!" Mana said.

"Wait up," I complained.

"Mana, slow down," Ayari added.

"Okay, okay. Slowpokes," she said.

"So, where is breakfast?" I asked.

"In the Great Hall if you're a member of nobility. Slaves and servants eat in the kitchens," Ayari said.

"Where?"

"They'll take you on a tour of the castle after your master is decided."

"But I'm not a slave!"

Mana, for once, looked sad, and her voice reflected it. "Once you get here, you're pretty much stuck here forever. You might get promoted, but you'll never truly escape. Few ever make it out of the castle walls, and those that do either get lost in the mountains and die or are captured by the Kaiser Dragons and brought back."

"Is that what those gold dragons are called?"

"Yep."

"I've never even heard of them."

"Supposedly they're some hybrid of Fairy Dragons and Winged Dragons," Ayari said. "I overheard it when I was cleaning the dragons' cages."

"Winged Dragons?"

"The ones also called Guardians of the Fortress."

"Really? How did they manage that?"

"They probably used a really powerful spell. I couldn't picture a half-breed from those parents. Fairy Dragons are just so tiny."

"Do they have any weaknesses?"

"None that we've noticed."

"Hmmm…" I pondered it for a while as we walked. Then I remembered that Ayari had talked about cleaning the dragons' cages. "Wait, we have to clean the dragons' cages?"

"Yeah, and let me tell you, it's not easy."

"While the dragons are still in them?"

"Nah, they let them out beforehand. But when they see you in there, they put on a show since they consider their cages their territory."

"So, do they just have Kaiser Dragons?"

"Oh, no. They've got lots of species."

"What species?"

"Besides the Kaiser Dragons and their… well… parents isn't quite the right word… they have a few Blackland Fire Dragons, Koumori Dragons, Thunder Dragons, Luster Dragons, Thousand Dragons, a couple Pitch Dark Dragons, some Alexandrite Dragons, and even a Serpent Night Dragon. Oh yeah, they have some Magna Dragos, too."

"Magna Dragos?"

"Yeah. The ones I just listed are the ones slaves and servants take care of. The Dragon Master takes care of the really dangerous ones."

"What species does he take care of?"

"They try to keep it a secret from us, but they have some really high-class dragons that only the Dragon Master is allowed to mingle with."

"Like…"

"They have Infernal Dragons, Red Dragon Archfiends, Stardust Dragons, a Black Rose Dragon, a Chaos Emperor Dragon, a Victory Dragon, a Tyrant Dragon, some Red-Eyes Black Dragons, and even a Blue-Eyes White Dragon."

I blanched. Those species were beyond dangerous. They were all very deadly, especially the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

Ayari continued. "I also overheard that they're trying experimental breedings, but they always reject each other. Apparently they're also trying to tamper with their DNA to create a superdragon."

"That's cause for alarm," I said.

"No kidding."

"Why are they doing this?"

Mana spoke up for the first time in a long time. Honestly, I had been surprised she could remain quiet for that length of time. "Gozaburo Kaiba is trying to take over the world. He's planning on taking over small villages to build his own nation before taking on the larger cities with better defenses."

"Apparently the last siege was a bust because there were a bunch of temple clerics there for some village event," Ayari added. "They captured some, but most of the villagers are still there with the temple clerics for protection."

"I can vouch for the captured villagers. Look at me."

"I can't believe I didn't realize you were one of them!" Ayari facepalmed. "I'm sorry if I sounded inconsiderate."

"It's fine. Yeah, there was a village festival. The temple clerics were visiting on business, but they stayed for the festival. Mr. Hawkins told the story of how our village was founded, which involved a Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon. I don't know how, but some guy named Bakura found the dragon's corpse that night and brought him back to life. The zombie dragon attacked our village, and I was captured, along with my friends, Joey and Alukan. Bakura used a spell to make Alukan's muscles start to die, and my legs were too sore to carry me very far, so that's how I ended up here."

"Yeah, Bakura's the Thief King. He's also a necromancer," Mana said.

"I noticed."

"Was Alukan that unconscious blonde guy that looked like he had full-body bruising?" Mana asked.

"Yeah. If Bakura hadn't resorted to necromancy, we might have escaped."

"Bakura's a _hudrik_," Ayari said.

"A what?"

"It's slave slang for someone who needs to die."

"I'm adopting that word."

"Good. Just don't mention it in front of the nobles. They'll know it's an insult, even if they don't know the actual definition."

"What else do I need to know for slave slang?"

"_Guryah_ is another common word. It's a word for those pompous old ladies who always get their way. It's pretty much a swear word. You'll also need to know okeirr, zubera, tripk, farneer, and manturei. Meanings respectively are lowlife, fatso, prostitute, eunuch, and imbecile. Got it?" Ayari asked.

"I think so. Manturei kind of sounds like manta ray."

Mana giggled. "It does."

"Yeah, kind of…" Ayari drifted off.

"We're here!" Mana said. She turned right into an archway.

"We need three breakfasts over here," Ayari waved.

"Coming right up," a chef said. I assumed he was a slave. We were given two slices of bread each.

"This looks delicious!" she complimented.

I gingerly took a bite. I didn't trust the food here. To my surprise, it was very sweet.

"This is really good!" I said.

"Is this the noble's bread?" Mana asked.

"It is. I figured the newbies' first meal here should be at least decent," the chef replied modestly.

"Thanks," I said.

"Oh, you're one of the new ones?"

"Yeah. I was caught two days ago."

"It can't be. The last raid was three weeks ago. You must have been under a sleep spell."

"Maybe."

"Well, you'll be taken on a tour of the castle today after your master is decided."

"So I hear. Who are the best masters?"

"The Lady Aksira is probably the best one. She used to be a slave, but she managed to climb up the ranks to second-in-command, a rank she shares with Lord Seto," the chef replied.

"She seemed pretty pissed off at him yesterday," I commented.

"Oh, those two are always at each other's throats," Ayari said. "They argue like a married couple. But don't say that around them. Even Lady Aksira would kill you."

"I'll keep that in mind. When do they choose our masters?"

"In fifteen minutes. You cut breakfast a little close. Here are some eggs."

I took several bites before asking, "So, who are your masters?"

"We both have Lady Aksira. I really hope you don't get ghetto," Ayari said.

"What?"

"Yeah, it's what we all call Lord Seto behind his back. Even Lady Aksira calls him that."

"Who are the other masters?"

"There's Lord Zigfried, Lord Braebon, Lord Terias, Lady Tremaine, Lady Xulu, and Lady Aeria. Oh, and Gozaburo. He's even worse than Ghetto."

"What's he like?"

"Well, all his female slaves become concubines at some point or another."

I gasped.

"And then he treats all his male slaves worse than dirt. Then again, he treats everyone worse than dirt, even Ghetto and Lady Aksira."

"Most of the people that escape are his slaves that would rather die than serve him another day," Mana said.

"How likely am I to get Gozaburo?"

"Not very. He rarely shows himself to anyone, even with new shipments of slaves," Mana said.

"That's a relief," I said.

"No kidding."

"Hurry up and eat. They'll pick your master in about ten minutes," the cook said.

"Okay," I wolfed down some eggs and bacon before following Ayari and Mana to a large room.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"This is one of the ballrooms," Mana said.  
>"They have balls?"<p>

"Don't get excited. Slaves aren't allowed to attend. We serve everyone else. If someone of a higher rank asks a servant, then they can attend, or rather, they have to," Ayari said.

"No, I really don't like dancing. I was hoping I wouldn't have to attend."

"Trust me, it's better to have to attend a dance than be stuck as a slave and serve those snobs for an entire night."

Ayari looked at a clock. "They're about to assign you to a master. My fingers are crossed that you'll get Lady Aksira."

"Thanks," I smiled.

"Well, we've gotta stand in the crowd. Wish you luck!"

"Hope you'll get Aksira," Mana said cheerfully.

I looked around and saw more slaves filing in. Evidently, our village hadn't been the only one that was raided. To my horror, I saw Alukan on a stretcher. If any progress had been made with his healing, it didn't show. He was still unconscious; his breathing was still shallow.

I saw a fat soldier wearing sunglasses walk into the room, followed by several guards and then some nobles, Aksira and Ghetto among them.

"Atten-TION!" he yelled. Everyone in the room filed into place, even the slaves. I looked to my right and saw the new slaves line up. I followed suit.

"Your masters will now be decided for you. You will serve only them and their higher-ups. Understood?"

There were a few mumbles.

"I said, UNDERSTOOD?"

"Yes," came more replies, slightly louder.

"Yes, SIR," he corrected.

"Oh, do shut up," an old lady ordered. "You're giving me a headache."

"Yes, Lady Tremaine," he backed off.

"And I'm taking first pick of slaves."

"No, you're not. As second in command, Lady Aksira and I will go first," Lord Seto said.

"Well then, have it your way, you petulant child," she backed off.

Ghetto smirked. "I'll choose you," he pointed to Joey.

My heart sunk. Joey might never be happy again. Heck, I probably wouldn't either knowing that Joey would have to put up with him.

Lady Aksira stepped forward and eyed the crowd. Finally she pointed to me. "I'll choose her."

In the back of the crowd, I saw Mana and Ayari doing a victory dance. I walked towards them, crestfallen that Joey couldn't join me.

"Yes, you're with us!" Mana whispered.

Ayari was more perceptive and saw how my smile didn't reach my eyes.

"What's wrong?" she asked quietly.

"One of my best friends is stuck with Ghetto."

"I'm so sorry," she said sympathetically.

I vaguely paid attention to who else had which slaves until I heard Ghetto grumble, "Since I'm stuck with him, I'll take the guy in the stretcher."

This was the straw that broke the camel's back. Tears started to form in my eyes.

"Was he another friend?" Ayari asked.

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

I saw the pity on her face. Mana finally picked up on my sadness. Surprisingly, she had the tact not to say anything and just hugged me. Ayari joined in.

"Alright, let's get moving!" Lady Aksira said. Then she saw the group hug. "What's wrong?"

"Everything," I said.

To my surprise, she joined the hug.

"It'll be okay," she said. Her voice seemed unusually soothing, even for someone trying to comfort someone else. It was almost like I was forced to calm down. Vaguely, I wondered if she used magic. Whether she did or not, my tears almost immediately stopped.

"See, it'll be alright."

I nodded.

"What are you doing? Consorting with your slaves?" Seto taunted.

I was greeted with a spectacular sight: Lady Aksira had finally snapped. Her crimson eyes had slits. She walked slowly up to his face, not bothering to avoid his personal bubble. She slowly raised her arm and backslapped him in the face. Then she kneed him in the crotch before stomping on his greaves with her heels. I don't know what they were made of, but her heels were strong enough to dent the metal without breaking. Then she picked him up by the collar of his shirt and said, "Would you care to repeat that to my face?"

He didn't reply.

"I said, would you care to repeat that to my face?"

Still no answer.

"What? Have you gone mute? I can't believe it. This is a novel experience, novel meaning a work of fiction."

The crowd laughed. I joined in.

In a low voice that I could barely hear, Seto said, "You had better be grateful that your rank isn't lower than mine. When Gozaburo makes me leader, it'll be straight to the dungeons for a slow death of starvation."

She smirked. "If the prison walls can hold me in the first place. You seem to forget that I'm the more deadly opponent of the two of us."

Seto gave a death glare like none I had ever seen.

"Put me down or I'll use Duos to cut off those filthy hands of yours. I guess your manicure would be for nothing."

"Where's your room to talk? I don't see any dirt under those fingernails of yours."

Seto finally snapped, too. He curled his fist for a point-blank punch, but the instant he moved his arm, Aksira let go of him and he hit the floor, grunting. He got up, massaging his shoulder and elbow and motioning for his (unfortunate) servants to follow him.

"Let's go," Lady Aksira said. "I need to wash my hands because I might catch some exotic disease that has no cure from him if I don't."

Her servants laughed and followed her, myself included. She took us on a tour of the castle, although she told us to avoid some places, including Gozaburo's chambers.

Our duties included, but were not limited to kitchen duty, polishing floors and walls, dusting, gardening, and once every two weeks, cleaning the dragons' cages.

Unfortunately for me, dragon duties were on certain Fridays, and the next day was one of those Fridays. I talked to Lady Aksira about it.

"Why do you think you need an exception from dragon duties?" she asked.

I told her about my childhood and fear of dragons.

"Hmmm. I see. Well, unfortunately, all my servants have to help with the massive amount of dragons we have. However, I'll let you stick with the Fairy Dragons and Petit Dragons. They tend to be pretty docile."

"Thank you so much!"

"However, I want to see them absolutely spotless. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. I'm sorry about your mother."

"Eh, it's not your fault. By the way, what are your heels made of?"

"Huh?"

"When you stomped on Seto's greaves, you left a dent in them."

She laughed, a rich sound with her slight accent. "Serves him right. They're made of lead and are diamond coated in case I would stomp hard enough to break the lead."

"How do you walk in them?"

"Practice. Lots of practice. Every now and then, I still stumble in them."

"Really?"

"Yes. Now get to work. I'm late for sparring practice as it is."

"Okay."

I (grudgingly) started to get to work. I had no idea what was coming my way the next day.

**So, yeah… this is a much later update than it should be. I was originally going to make Seto Kisara's master, but I decided I couldn't be too cruel to all of my characters. I put Joey under Seto so they could develop the rivalry they are so famous for in the series. I got almost no reviews. Reviews motivate writers more than you realize. **

**If you want faster updates, it'll mean I need more reviews.**


	9. Chapter 9

**I don't own Yugioh.**

I woke up early the next morning. A knot had formed in my stomach about what would happen later today, so I woke up well before the bell rang. I scratched my arms and legs because the straw was itchy. It was pitch black, and there were no windows. Having no other options, I began to think.

I wondered if Alukan would ever heal. I had talked with some of the slaves that had been to the infirmary yesterday. They said he still looked like he had full-body bruising and his breathing was faint. Apparently, he still hadn't woken up.

Then my thoughts wandered to the dragons. Fairy Dragons tended to be gentle… for dragons. They were still dragons, no matter what they seemed to be. Petit Dragons were the smallest breed of dragon, but they were still known for their vicious bites. The two breeds' head shapes and wing styles made them look very similar. They were probably sibling species on the evolutionary tree. They almost looked… cute, but again, they were still dragons. There was nothing lovable about dragons. I couldn't see why anyone good would choose them as summons. Gozaburo Kaiba was probably the most evil man on the planet next to Bakura, and he had an entire army of dragons. Probably half were so vicious that only Seto and Aksira were allowed to handle them.

Then I thought about Lady Aksira. She definitely had an air of command about her, and all the men feared her for some reason. Even Seto backed down from a fight with her, and he possessed a Ka. Maybe she possessed a Ka herself. It would make sense how she rose in the ranks so much. If she did have a Ka, it was probably much stronger than Seto's. I wondered what it was. It was often said that those who had Kas bore some resemblance to their monster spirit. I took in her appearance. She had crimson eyes and hair that was so dark that it seemed to absorb light. She had very dark tan skin. She was obviously intelligent, since she had been promoted to second in command, and she easily beat Seto in a battle of words. She had mentioned sparring, which could be a hobby of hers, although it may have been something she was forced to do. I began to consider all the monsters that would fit that description. My first thoughts of intelligent creatures that loved to fight were of dragons. I tried to think of dragons with the color scheme of red and black. I first thought of Serpent Night Dragons, although I quickly discarded that idea. She didn't seem like enough of a snake to me. Plus, they were dark blue, not black. Black Rose Dragons had pink, not red like her eyes. Harpies' Pet Dragons were discarded because they had green eyes, not red. They also had orange in their wings.

Then another even more dangerous thought came into my head. What if her Ka was a Red-Eyes Black Dragon? I tried to discard it, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Those dragons were among the strongest in existence. There was absolutely no way even Seto's Ka would stand up to a fight to the death with one of those demons. It would explain perfectly how and why the soldiers had such a healthy respect and even fear of her. If she unleashed the dragon, they wouldn't be able to stand up to it for more than ten minutes if they were lucky. She also would handle the most dangerous dragons in Gozaburo's army. Seto was the only other one allowed to handle them because they were so dangerous. She even looked like a human Red-Eyes. Then I remembered something. When Seto insulted her, her eyes literally had slits. Dragons' pupils did that when they were angry. She also had enough raw strength to dent Seto's greaves with her heels. Even if the heels were strong, so was the metal used in the greaves. A military leader wouldn't let his chosen successor wear weak armor. When Seto had threatened to lock her in the dungeons when he became leader, she had scoffed at the dungeons being able to keep her in; Seto hadn't even attempted to deny her ability to break out.

I had finally figured out Lady Aksira's Ka. Well, probably.

Then an idea hit me. If I had a Ka, what would it be?

I first considered my appearance. Blue eyes, pale skin, and white hair made up my outward appearance. I would take down anyone dumb enough to challenge me, as long as it didn't involve athletics. I was always poor at athletics. I considered myself intelligent, but I didn't put myself on the level of a dragon. I factored in my fear of dragons, so I tried to think of prey animals that dragons feasted on that looked like me. I couldn't think of any except for a Sunlight Unicorn. However, Sunlight Unicorns didn't suit my personality. They were too flighty, and they were constantly running. As I struggled to come up with a monster that would suit me, I suddenly remembered the White Stone of Legend that had probably been left behind.

_Oh well, at least it's out of my hair._

Then a chilling realization hit me. I remembered the temple clerics practically worshipping me. I recalled the story they told about Queen Kisara and their theory that she was my past life.

_Kisara. My name._

They had talked about how her monster spirit was the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. She had blue eyes, pale skin, and white hair, too.

Another epiphany came, making me shiver.

I recalled Bakura taunting me, and then that _voice_ telling me to tell him that I was her reincarnation. It had taken control of me to pass on that information since I refused to do it. It knew what Bakura's Ka was, and even the Ka's name. Diabound. He had seemed shocked that the information came out of my mouth. Then I remembered what the voice sounded like. It had reminded me of rumbling thunder when I first "heard" it, but now that I had thought over it, I realized that it sounded like a growling dragon.

_It can't be…_

My heart was pounding.I hadn't realized how long I had been pondering things until I heard the first bell. Immediately, torches lit up and I saw the girls shifting in their beds. Mana got right up and stretched. Ayari groaned and started scratching her arms and legs more vigorously than I had. Evidently, she wasn't the only one who had hay fever. There were several others scratching themselves. It didn't help that our dresses only covered so much of our skin from the straw. The boys were much luckier there; they had potato-sack shirts and potato-sack pants to wear, while we were stuck with the potato-sack mini-dresses.

"Good morning," Mana said cheerfully.

"Morning," I said.

Ayari yawned. "What's so good about mornings?"

"There's a reason I just used the word morning by itself, Ayari," I said.

"How long have you been up?" Mana asked.

"A while."

"Really? It took forever to get you up yesterday," she commented.

"Yeah. Is it your new life?" Ayari asked.

"Sort of."

"Explain further," she said.

"I'll do it on the way to breakfast."

"We'll hold you to that. Let's go. I'm starving."

We headed on down to breakfast while I told Ayari and Mana about my history with dragons. I refrained from mentioning that I possibly had a Blue-Eyes White Dragon as my Ka. They probably didn't even know about Kas.

"What are you going to do about the dragons later today?" Ayari asked.

"I already talked with Lady Aksira about it. She's letting me stick with Fairy Dragons and Petit Dragons."

"What? Lucky," Ayari said. "I tried that when I first came here, but she didn't let me off the hook like that."

"I told her about my mother."

"Your mother?"

"Yeah. The Magna Drago that burned down my house the third time set fire to her room. Her burns were too bad for Meg to heal, so she ended up dying."

"Who's Meg?" Mana asked.

"Her full name is Gyakutenno Megami. She was my mother's personal summon until her death. She's basically stepped in as a surrogate mom after that."

"I've heard of that race. Aren't they a kind of fairy?"

"Yeah. Three breakfasts," I said to the chef on duty.

She handed us some hash browns and pork (low quality – nobility always got the best).

I grabbed a fork and poked at my food. Realizing that I might have a dragon as my Ka had ruined my appetite. I hadn't even realized that I felt sick to my stomach until then.

"Are you okay? You look sick," Mana commented.

"I'm not sure if I caught something or not. I'm not hungry right now. You can have my plate."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Which way is the infirmary?"

"Take a left, go down the stairs to your left, and it'll be the third door on your right. I'll tell Lady Aksira where you are."

"Thanks. I'll see you later."

I followed Mana's directions, passing a round of soldiers by the stairs. When I entered, the first thing I saw was a group of nurses huddled around a stretcher. The occupant's skin looked purple and was covered in a thick sheen of sweat. One of the nurses moved aside and I saw spiky blonde hair and locks framing a heart-shaped face. Alukan's blue eyes were closed, and his breathing was horrifyingly shallow. They had taken his shirt off, and if it weren't for the awful bruising, he probably would have been very attractive. I could clearly see the remnants of a six-pack that must have been impressive before his muscles had started to die. He had well-toned arms and legs before Bakura had worked his foul magic on him.

"Is he okay?" I asked.

One of the nurses shook her head. "It's not just his voluntary muscles that have been affected. His heart and lungs are bruised and dying as well. It's a miracle that he's survived this long."

"Bakura did this," I said.

"The Thief King?"

"Yeah. He chanted something and his muscles started to die almost immediately."

"You know him?" she asked.

"Sort of. We met right before the village was attacked."

"I can tell you care for him."

"More than you realize," I replied.

"I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but as the moon wanes every night, so does his life force. I'm afraid he'll be dead by the new moon."

A pit formed in my stomach. In my grief, another idea formed in my mind.

"Maybe the spell is connected to the phases of the moon."

"You're probably right," the nurse said. "But how can we change the phase of the moon? The spell would have to change the position of the moon, which is the size of a small planet. The energy required would kill even the strongest spellcasters in a heartbeat."

"Is there a way to bottle moonlight?"

Another nurse, a man, laughed. "If you can catch a bowl of fog, sure."

"What about time magic? Could you summon a Time Wizard and shift moonlight through time into this room?"

"It's not worth the risk," he said. "It's a one in three chance that things will go right. The other two times, it goes awry and you've messed up the balance of the universe for good. Even if things go right, you've still ruined the balance of the universe."

I didn't like this nurse or the way he was looking at me whatsoever. He had a general air of I'm-better-than-you. I wanted to needle his ego to deflate it more than anything at that moment.

He continued. "Well, he's not in a fit state for visitors. Go away."

"I think I'm sick."

He rolled his eyes. "Symptoms?"

"I'm sick to my stomach and I don't feel like eating."

"Well, that's probably because you've seen this guy's condition. Get out of here."

"I was like that before I came here."

"No, you weren't. Get lost before I call the guards."

Grudgingly, I walked back to the kitchens. Ayari greeted me.

"Feeling better?"

"No. They wouldn't treat me."

"What?"

"That guy in there…"

"Colan?"

"I don't know. He had tan skin and light green hair."

"I think I know who you're talking about. He's a man-tripk and a hudrik."

"That sounds like him. I didn't like the way he was looking at me."

"Yeah, that's Colan. Avoid him at all costs."

"Did I need that advice?"

"No, seriously. Avoid him at all costs. He's one of Bakura's top men."

"What? What's he doing in here?"

"Gozaburo allied himself with the Thieves' Guild. I think Colan is like number four in command. He's Bakura's personal medic, so he knows all of his tricks and spells. That's probably why he's in charge of your friend's treatment. Then again, he might just be trying to finish what Bakura started."

"I actually think they're trying to keep him alive. Bakura's a necromancer, and if he really wanted to, he would have killed him on the spot. It seems like they're trying to get something out of him. Maybe information."

"Maybe, but what would he know?"

"Alukan had mentioned that he was a soldier. They might want to know intel on that army, since Gozaburo's all for world conquest."

"How would they know he's a soldier?"

I thought about that for a while. "I'm not sure. I don't think he was a high-ranking officer. He probably would have said something about it."

"Maybe he's a spy?"

"I doubt it."

"You never know with spies."

"He just doesn't seem like the type."

She didn't reply.

Lady Aksira came in. "Come on. It's time to clean the dragons' cages."

I gulped.

She looked at me. "You look sick. You should go to the infirmary."

"I did. They wouldn't treat me."

"Colan was on duty, wasn't he?"

"I don't know who Colan is," I said.

"Medium-tall fellow, green hair, tan skin, gold eyes."

"That's him."

"He never treats slaves or servants. That blonde's probably the only exception, and that because it was a direct order from his superiors. He's a nasty fellow with an even nastier sense of humor. Even I try to stay away from him whenever possible."

I was surprised. He really was an unsavory character if Aksira avoided him.

"I'll heal you. What's wrong?"

"I have an upset stomach and I couldn't eat anything this morning."

She placed two fingers on my forehead. "I can't sense any bugs or viruses. Is something bothering you?"

Thoughts of Kas were still on my mind. I decided not to tell her the whole truth.

"The dragons."

"I'll block your adrenaline until four when we're done with them."

"We have eight hours with them?"

"Yeah. It gives Seto's slaves a break. It's not like they don't deserve it. I'll go ahead."

She touched her two fingers to my forehead again. I felt a weird sensation and knew that her magic had worked.

"Let's go."

She led us through the castle among halls I hadn't visited. I heard a screech and recognized a Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Then I heard a growl, this one much lower than the Red-Eyes's screech. I knew there were some dangerous species, but it was normally impossible to determine a species by its growl. She started running, so we followed. As we got closer, we started hearing more growls and hisses. Dread filled my heart, as I knew we were getting closer.

"Ayari and Mana will show you what to do. I've got to run," Lady Aksira had said as we entered the dragon's enclosure.

I gaped at her running in the same stilettos as yesterday. I couldn't even stand in low heels, yet alone sprint in stilettos as she was doing.

I heard a squeak and saw a Petit Dragon squirming in its cage. It seemed frightened of something and cowered in the back of its cage. When I (reluctantly) got closer, it backed away even further.

_Good, it's scared of me. It ought to respect me._

Mana opened the cage, but the dragon hesitated to get out. When I walked around to the back, it shot out of its cage and flew away as fast as its little wings would take it.

_That's weird. At least it probably won't bother me._

Mana's words echoed my thoughts. "That's weird. The Petit Dragons are usually friendly. What did you do to scare it?"

"I don't know. What do I do to clean the cage?"

"Use a pitchfork to get the straw out. Then rinse it and scrub it. When you're done, put new straw back in. It's pretty easy."

"Okay," I said, picking up a pitchfork.

The work was monotonous, but it went by faster that I had imagined it would be. For some reason, every time I went to open a dragon's cage, it huddled in the back before springing out and shrieking when I moved close to it.

"What are you doing to the dragons to scare them so badly?" Mana had asked at lunch break.

"I have no idea. I dislike them, but I don't think my dislike is strong enough to make them cower like that."

"Lady Aksira had blocked your adrenaline. Maybe they sense that and think you're some predator. They can definitely pick up on the smell of fear," Ayari said.

"I thought you said the Petit Dragons were friendly."

"They are. Normally they stay near you, and the more docile ones rub their heads against your legs. I don't know what you're doing to scare them senseless, but you're doing a great job of it, whatever it is."

"Thanks."

"I'm not sure if that was a compliment or not."

"I'm taking it as a compliment."

"Whatever," she said. "We still have about five hours in here."

"I want to try tackling a bigger dragon."

"I wouldn't if I were you," Ayari said. "They're practically in a class of their own."

"Well, my adrenaline is blocked. I can take one on."

"You only finished the Petit Dragons. Fairy Dragons are stronger."

"They're basically the same."

"Kisara! You're becoming reckless without adrenaline! Stick with the smaller ones!" Mana screamed. She was almost at the point of tears.

I was taken aback. "What's your problem?"

"My father… was killed when he tried to take on a gang of bandits. He bit off more than he could chew, and it killed him. I don't want the same to happen to you."

I didn't say anything. I hadn't really asked about either of their pasts.

She continued. "You're my friend, Kisara. I've had few enough."

"No way. You've got a bubbly personality and you're always so cheerful!"

"People say I'm too hyper and that they can't stand me," she said sadly. "It's really just a mask to hide my grief."

"If it makes you feel any better, my mother died from a Magna Drago's lava. I know what it feels like to lose a parent."

She started to sniffle, so Ayari and I gave her a hug as she cried into my shoulder. After a while, she continued.

"My brother Mahad went to join the army not long after that. He only left a note behind. It basically said that he was going to learn magic and whatnot and that he would return when he was able to protect us. It wasn't too long after that when Gozaburo attacked our village. Mother and I were separated, and I don't even know if she's alive."

I patted her on the back.

"Well, since you two have told your histories, I might as well share mine," Ayari said. "I was born into a rich family in a big city. We were in a wagon on the way to our vacation home by the beach when one of Gozaburo's cavalry units pursued us for a while, so our guards shot them with arrows. They left us alone for a while, and we arrived there unhindered, other than for that. Bad luck struck us again. A tsunami hit our home on the beach and ruined it. The wave carried us from our beds, and we were separated in the currents. I almost wonder if the cavalry units had a spellcaster among them to cause the tsunami, because they found me within minutes. I don't know if my parents are even alive.

"As you may have guessed, they brought me here, so here I am."

"Aren't you lucky?" I said. "I was born in a poor fishing family. I've almost never had enough to eat."

"That's why you're so thin," Ayari commented.

"Yeah."

"Aksira will kill us if we don't get back to work pretty soon," she said.

"Okay, you win."

The Fairy Dragons were cautious and showed signs of nervousness as I approached them, but they didn't panic like the Petit Dragons did. Every time I looked back at them, they had their eyes fixed on me. Out of spite towards the dragons, I jumped towards them and made a loud rarrrgh at them. The effect was hilarious. They scattered in all directions, shrieking and chattering with each other. Ayari and Mana joined in my laughter, or at least, they did until we heard a cold voice behind us.

"I hope you're not abusing my dragons."

It was Seto. He was giving us a death glare, and his general posture indicated aggression. However, with my adrenaline blocked, I didn't care.

"Where have you been? Aren't the dragons your responsibility?"

Ayari and Mana gaped and shook their heads frantically.

"Yes. Aksira and I just broke up a fight between a Red-Eyes Black Dragon and a Chaos Emperor Dragon. It was a nasty fight, and after they calmed down, I asserted dominance over them with this sword. Do you know what that means? I can command the dragons to hunt you down. You're just a slave, so no one really cares about you. And for your cheek, you won't get dinner."

"Did Gozaburo give you authority over my slaves, Seto? If he did, I'm sure I would have heard about it by now. Since I have heard nothing, you have no right to command them… or punish them," Lady Aksira walked in gracefully.

I interrupted. "That sword isn't dirty. Dragons wouldn't be scared of that mundane metal twig unless you used it against them."

"This 'mundane metal twig' was cleaned. And if it's so mundane, maybe we'll see how it feels in your side, or your neck, perhaps?"

"Go right ahead."

"Enough!" I heard a swishing sound and saw something metal fly past Seto's neck. Aksira had thrown a knife with such accuracy that it grazed his throat without breaking the skin. Even with my adrenaline blocked, I knew she was a threat and that it wouldn't be wise to cross her now.

"Oh darn, I just missed by millimeters," she said sarcastically.

Seto looked outraged. "How did you get that kunai past my wards?" he demanded.

"Come now, Seto. Who's the better spellcaster of the two of us?"

"That's Galem's kunai, isn't it?" he said, controlling his tone.

"And what if it is?" she put her hands on her hips.

"Enlighten me on how you acquired that." He seemed interested now.

"You're wondering how I got this from the Thief King's third-in-command? Easy. All it takes to distract a man is food or a sporting event. He probably doesn't even know it's missing."

"What did you feed him?"

"Enchanted narcotics. I control what he hallucinates. Right now, he's watching a duel between Bakura and me. I'm winning, of course."

"Don't they have someone test their food for poison?"

"I developed the narcotic, so there's no test to detect it. It takes four days for the narcotics to kick in. Then it takes a week and a half for it to be flushed out of the system. He won't need another dose for a good week now."

"How comforting to know that my fellow second-in-command is running a meth lab in her spare time."

"Not really. There's a difference between a chemistry lab and a meth lab. Besides, I stole it from Bakura's grunts, enchanted it, and replaced it. They never knew it was missing," Aksira said smugly, folding her arms.

"And I'm sure you didn't save any for yourself," Seto said sarcastically.

"You would be correct."

"Humor me."

"Honestly, use what few brain cells you possess, and think back. Have you ever seen me high or unusually aggressive?"

"Yeah. Once a month."

She glared daggers at him.

"If you think I'm-" she began, but was interrupted by a page.

"Lady Aksira, Lord Seto," he bowed to each in turn, "your presence is requested in Lord Gozaburo's councilroom."

They marched off without question, their previous argument seemingly forgotten besides when Aksira gave him the finger behind his back.

I turned to Ayari and Mana when they were out of earshot. "They really do argue like a married couple. They're not betrothed, are they?"

"Why? You're interested in Ghetto?"

"Cue coughing fit," I said.

"Hey, he might be a manturrei, but you've got to admit it. He is one heck of a stud," Ayari said dreamily, going back to her sandwich.

"Not you, too. I got enough of this back home."

"Who was your interest back home?" Mana asked.

"You're nosy."

"Come on. Cough it up," Ayari smirked and sipped her water.

"No one in Gonaga ever caught my eye."

"Anyone like you?" Mana asked.

"Yeah. Bakura did."

Ayari choked on her water and required the Heimlich maneuver. When she caught her breath, she sputtered, "The Thief King's from Gonaga?"

"No. The Bakura I'm talking about's first name is Ryou."

"They're not related, are they?"

"Probably not. I never heard of the Thief King having siblings. Ryou had a little sister named Amane, but she died from an infection years ago. I don't think Bakura's a girl."

"He wouldn't strike me as one."

"Well, he does have long hair," Mana said.

"True that," Ayari said as we shared a laugh.

"We'd better actually get to work," I said after we calmed down.

"You're right," Mana agreed, and we all picked up our rakes.

I finished cleaning the Fairy Dragons after a few more hours. Then it hit me. How was I supposed to herd the dragons in their cages if they were so terrified of me?

"Uh, guys?"

"What?"

"You know how the dragons are scared of me?"

"No duh," Ayari responded.

"How am I going to corral them in their cages?"

"That's your problem, not mine."

"Mana?"

"I'll help."

She pulled a whistle off a hook on the wall. When she blew it, it was extremely high-pitched. The dragons flew back into their cages obediently, and the doors closed.

"That's shrill," I commented.

"What?"

"The whistle."

"I didn't hear anything."

"You're kidding."

"No. Your ears aren't ringing are they?"

"No."

"I wonder if it's a side effect from Lady Aksira's spell."

"I wouldn't know. I'm no expert at magic."

"Spells normally don't have unintended side effects," Ayari said. "If there are any, they're almost always related to the spell. A spell to block adrenaline probably wouldn't increase hearing. If anything, it would decrease it, since adrenaline heightens your senses."

"You can use magic?" I was astonished.

"No, but it was part of my education to learn about the basics behind magic. Besides, if I could use it, I would either be stuck in the dungeon or in the military. They don't risk having sorcerers in the castle that aren't loyal to them."

Mana looked around. "That's why I haven't told anyone but Ayari."

"Huh?"

"I can use magic."

"Really?"

"I'm really strong, too. The problem is…"

"What?"

"I don't know any spells. I can't read the arcane language."

"I can't either."

"Because I almost never use magic, it builds up, so when I do use it, it almost never works right. It'll be too strong or do the wrong thing. That's partially why I'm so clumsy. It leaks out at times."

"Magic makes you clumsy?"

"Not really. When it leaks out, it affects whatever's on my mind. I tend to break a lot of vases when it leaks out if I'm looking at them."

"That's unfortunate."

"You won't tell anyone, right?"

"No."

"Promise?"

"I promise," I smiled reassuringly.

"Cross your heart?"

"Cross my heart."

"Okay."

After a few minutes, she continued, "I'm glad I have a friend like you."

"Right back at you," I said, reminiscing about Tea's friendship speeches. "Tea would be proud of this moment."

"What?" Ayari asked.

"Oh, back in Gonaga, I had a friend named Tea. She would give friendship monologues. Hers were pretty corny, though. I never thought I'd miss them."

"You're not the only one that misses home," she said.

"Or family and friends," Mana added.

"Yeah, but you never know what you've got until it's gone."

We stood in silence until we heard an argument getting louder and louder.

"Human lives should never be wasted!" That was Aksira.

"His is pretty much gone. How likely is he to recover?" a familiar voice said. I tried to place it.

"I seem to recall that he's _my _slave, and therefore my property," Seto said coldly.

"And how has he profited you, Seto?"

"I have leverage against your boss, Colan, leverage that I am not willing to relinquish."

"Well, I might just have to remove that leverage."

"Call me crazy, but didn't you receive orders from not only me, but also the Thief King himself that he is to remain alive. You are not to _try_ to keep him alive. You are to, and I quote, '_ensure his survival at all costs_.' Is that not what Bakura said?"

A pause. Then, "They only want him for information. With ailments that bad, he'll never recover to serve you further."

With a chill in my stomach, I realized that they were talking about Alukan.

"I'm sure he will if you do your job like you were ordered to by two superiors."

I could picture Seto giving a sickly sweet smile to Colan if he were capable of smiling.

"You're not my superior."

"Shall we have a Ka battle to determine that? I think I remember Bakura complaining about your lack of one, so I would win by default."

"I can still summon monsters," Colan added after some hesitation.

"I don't think you need to. Seto and I are conversing with one right now," Aksira retorted.

They were passing through the dragon's enclosure now. Colan opened his mouth to say something, but a man I didn't recognize cut him off.

"Enough, Colan. You heard Bakura's orders. Get to work."

"But…"

"You're acting strange enough as it is. You normally don't question the leader, yet you seem to show signs of insubordination mere minutes after the order was given. Don't make me report this in addition to Galem's odd behavior."

A mock bow, then, "Yes, Master Torik."

While Torik, if that's what his name was, scolded Colan, I thought I saw the corner of Lady Aksira's mouth twitch for a split second when he mentioned Galem.

Torik continued. "I hear a slave girl came up with a solution that made perfect sense to cure Seto's slave. Bottle moonlight, and release it during the new moon to ensure his survival."

"Can you bottle fog?"

"Yes, you can, with the appropriate spell. Don't even try to deny that we the Thieves' Guild bottle darkness to aid our plundering. Use the same concept to bottle moonlight."

I saw Seto and Aksira look at each other when Torik mentioned bottling darkness. He seemed oblivious to them at the moment.

"Fine, _Your Majesty_," Colan sneered.

"And I want an hourly report on your charge's condition," Torik continued. "If a necromancer, and the King of Thieves no less, wants someone alive, there's a reason for it."

With that, the entourage, with the exception of Colan, proceeded through an archway to where the dangerous dragons were kept (Ayari told me so).

After Torik's statement, I wondered why in the world Bakura would want Alukan alive so badly…

**YAY! I finally updated! :D And yay for the 1000th view!**

**I am so sorry this is so late, but I finally got a good place to leave off. Writer's block and all the other classic excuses that every author tries to pull set in. **

**You're probably getting curious about Alukan, aren't you? All I'm going to say is that he has a very interesting backstory.**

**The next two chapters will have major plot points, so stay tuned. **

**One of the things that slowed me down was the lack of reviews (only two the last chapter), so if you want faster updates, REVIEW. **


	10. Chapter 10

**I don't own Yu-gi-oh.**

**And seriously? Just two reviews?**

_**Kisara's pov**_

After we finished cleaning the dragons' cages, we had a ten-minute break before Aksira's spell wore off. When it did, all of my fears came rushing back to me. I almost passed out, and Mana and Ayari literally had to drag me out of the dragon area because the fear that had built up for so long while Aksira's spell had its hold on me decided to paralyze me at the first chance.

Then we had to wax the floors in a hall and the descending stairs at the end. There was a ramp in the middle of the stairs, almost like it would be for carriages or wheeled vehicles so you didn't have to deal with the bumpiness of the steps. The smell of the wax reminded me of turpentine; it wasn't long before I started sneezing. It was a pain to wax them, and my long hair kept getting into the wax. To do the job properly, you started from the wall to the middle of the hall, and you worked your way towards the doors. It didn't take long for our slippers (really, they were short socks made of the same potato-sack-fabric as our "dresses") built up a layer of wax, which made us constantly slip around. It was hours before we finished that hall and stairs and were allowed to wait on the nobles for their dinner. We the slaves had to wait until all of the nobles and soldiers finished their meals before we were even allowed to touch our own plates of food. Many of the nobles were obese and kept stuffing their faces while we were forced to watch and appease their monstrous appetites ("Would you like some more biscuits, sir?" "Would you like another bowl of soup, ma'am?" "Do you want anything else to eat?"). On top of that, we had to tell them to take their time.

_Yes, hudrik-zubera [fatty that needs to die]. We want to watch you stuff your faces while we wait on what will be our meager dinner, and we want you to take forever to do it so we almost pass out of hunger. And yes, we do see the fat going straight to your hips right as we serve you even more food. We'll keep on doing it until your thighs explode. Savvy?_

It became worse when alcohol got involved. The men (mostly soldiers) reached out for the female slaves and tried to touch them inappropriately. More often than not, they drank too much and barfed all over the place (guess who had to clean it up). Or they tried to break into song with their slurred speech, hiccupping, barfing, and off-key voices. It made for a cacophony that even left the mildly drunk nobles begging for mercy. Brawls were fairly common, and even the inexperienced slaves like me stayed clear of the soldiers' tables.

Aksira got so fed up with their alcohol-induced revelry that she threw fireballs at them to shut them up. She seemed like she had experience doing it. However, it was only a few minutes before the awful singing started again. Any sane person would know that if they kept it up, she would punish them severely. It was only a matter of seconds before she stood up, walked over to the soldiers' tables, and aimed a series of miniature fireballs at their tankards to burn the alcohol. They yelped and scrambled away.

"Any more singing, and next time I'll see if I can burn the alcohol out of your _blood system!" _she announced with clenched teeth. "YOU ARE DISMISSED!"

Applause broke out almost immediately. A small number of soldiers were so wasted that they didn't register the command and joined the clapping, cheering and muttering some slurred words that no one could understand. One of them shouted, "ENNNGOOORRRE."

The idiot was so plastered that he couldn't even say encore properly.

Unfortunately for him, Aksira granted him an encore. She unsheathed her sword and charged it with garnet-colored flames. She struck the cobblestone floor with it, and lines of flame rushed towards the remaining soldiers.

They were so drunk that it took them several seconds to register that flames were running towards them and that if they didn't want to be burned alive, they'd better run away. Or rather, stumble away, since they couldn't even walk in a straight line.

Applause broke out again, and Seto actually whistled. It shocked me until I noticed a partially drained glass of wine. It must have gotten to his head, although he didn't have that look on your face that lets everyone else know you're drunk. Then again, he probably had a migraine. I sure did after all their "singing". I supposed that it was both.

After Aksira's encore, the nobles' dinner finished quickly, and we were finally allowed to eat and go to bed.

* * *

><p>I woke up to lights, and not the bell. Aksira was shaking us.<p>

"What's going on?" I said groggily.

"I still have a small grudge against the soldiers for last night. I think we should use their hangovers against them. We're headed towards the kitchens for pots, pans, anything you can use that makes a loud noise, and we're going to give the soldiers a nice, loud wake up call. Deal?"

"Sure," I yawned.

Mana was giggling gleefully, while Ayari was smirking.

After putting on our slippers, we walked in silence to the kitchens and grabbed metal cookware. I grabbed a carving knife to rub against the pans Mana picked up. I was still groggy, but I was really looking forward to bursting the soldiers' eardrums. The hallways were still dark, only lit by dim torches. It was still early in the morning; the sun was barely peeking out above the horizon.

Our procession passed through the hall we had waxed the day before. I stumbled on the slippery floor, and as I tried to right myself, I slid across and went down the ramp on the staircase. I kept going faster until finally, I hit a wall. I winced, but I was too tired to cry out in pain. I would definitely get a bruise from the impact, but I was lucky enough that I didn't cut myself on the knife I was still holding.

I cursed the wax on the bottoms of my slippers and carefully made my way back up the stairs. When I reached the top, to my dismay, Aksira and my fellow slaves had vanished. I had been at the very back, so I doubted they would have noticed me slip and fall. I wandered the hall they were heading to, but there was no trace of them. I turned to a side hall and continued wandering, searching for them. I wandered for about fifteen minutes before I finally heard voices. Excited, I headed towards the source of the voices.

It was a heavy wooden double door. Something didn't seem right about the voices, so I eavesdropped.

"Where is Aksira?" a rough voice demanded.

"I personally checked her chambers. She was nowhere to be found," an old woman's voice said. "Her slaves were missing in action as well."

"Thank you, Lady Tremaine."

"Shall we start without her?"

"Certainly, Lord Braeburn."

"So, how does ze siege on Gonaga go?" an accented voice said. I gasped.

"Not well, Zigfried. The temple clerics are maintaining a strong defense of the village."

"I vas not avare zat zey vere zere."

"They were visiting for a village festival. We chose our day of attack poorly."

"Ah, I see. You vere supposed to gazzer information, vere you not, Seto?"

"They showed up on the day of the siege. There was no way I could get the message to Lord Gozaburo fast enough. I was ordered to attack that night, so I did."

"Well, you did capture slaves and that captain," the rough voice said again.

_Captain? Who's he talking about?_

"What is his prognosis?"

"He has remained about the same," Colan said.

"So his decline has stopped?"

"It would appear to be so."

"Keep him alive. I want information out of him. Once you've gotten it, erase his mind and we can use his skills for our militia."

There was a pause while I digested the information about Alukan, for there was no doubt that it was him who they were talking about. Then Bakura spoke.

"I hope you realize that there is an eavesdropper outside these doors waiting with a knife in hand."

I looked down in horror as I remembered the knife in my hand.

There were murmurs. "I'll take care of this," Colan snapped, and I heard a chair scrape against the floor.

"No. I'll handle the situation myself," Seto said as I heard another chair scrape.

"I'll back you up!" Colan exclaimed.

"And me," Torik said.

I dropped the knife I was holding before realizing that I would relinquish my only weapon. I grabbed it again and began to run. The doors burst open, and the two men ran out and pursued me. Running had never been my strong point, and I was notoriously poor with endurance. It was only a minute before I had a side stitch, but I dared not slow down.

I heard a voice inside my head that reminded me of thunder. **_I am your inner power. Release me, and all your troubles will disappear._**

I realized in horror that the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was trying to make me release it. It would probably kill everyone in the vicinity, including me.

The men were gaining on me. Torik was fastest. He grabbed my arm and twisted it so hard that I dropped my knife. He punched me in the eye as hard as he could. I had trouble keeping it open after that because I was in so much pain, and I knew he gave me a black eye. He grabbed my other arm and laughed triumphantly, holding me in the air.

With my adrenaline pumping, the White Dragon's influence over me became stronger. It started giving me advice.

**_His arms are occupied holding yours. Strike him in the fork of his legs._**

As much as I hated dragons, this one's advice was ingenious. I went to knee him in the crotch, but my foot hit his right knee instead. However, the pumping adrenaline gave me unprecedented strength, and I shattered his kneecap while my strike was still going. I still kneed him in the crotch, and he dropped me, howling in pain.

**_Now release me, and I can protect you. I can kill him and the other two._**

The dragon's first piece of advice had saved my butt, so I decided to humor it. I wasn't sure how to release a Ka, though.

**_Feel your anger. Let its power course through your veins. When you feel white-hot energy, concentrate on it, and then I can take form._**

I started to run again, focusing on my anger. I started to speed up, and I realized that my dragon was giving me strength. Suddenly, I felt like my blood was burning. This must have been the energy the White Dragon was talking about. I focused on it, and I started to glow white.

_That's weird. Why am I glowing?_

I had forgotten about my pursuers while I was focusing on my energy. Colan and Seto were both fast runners. I ran into a hall lined with ornate pottery. I looked back and saw Colan pick up a jug.

"Colan, no!" Seto yelled.

It was too late. While running, Colan heaved the jug at me, and it struck my temple; then everything went black.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Seto's pov<strong>_

"Colan, no!" I yelled.

It was too late. He heaved the jug at our quarry, which hit her temple. She immediately got a concussion and passed out.

To my dismay, the white glow surrounding her became even more intense.

A pale white mist, almost like glowing fog, began to materialize above her.

"Do you know what you've done?" I yelled at Colan.

He turned tail and ran; I stayed where I was, hoping, praying that my suspicions wouldn't be proved right. The mist condensed into a draconian shape, and the glow intensified so much that I had to close my eyes. When I could finally open them, I was mortified to see that the girl had a Ka. And it wasn't just any Ka. A Blue-Eyes White Dragon had materialized above her. It roared with killing intent and looked at me with piercing blue eyes. Eyes that had the look of a beast that had been confined and abused for years until it had finally escaped, and was now willing to kill anything and everything around it in retribution for all its years of suffering.

I knew I was doomed…

**I'm sorry this was so short. I couldn't think of anything to add to this, and I figured you would want updates sooner. (I actually did this whole chapter today. Aren't you proud?)**

**I already wrote down the next chapter in my notebook, so I just need to transfer it to the computer. It'll be done by the end of this week.**

**REVIEW!**


	11. Chapter 11

**I don't own Yu-gi-oh.**

**_Seto's pov_**

The dragon growled menacingly, daring me to come closer to its host. I could hear slight crackles as it crouched above her. It was building up an armor of electricity in addition to its diamond-hard scales. Any metal would conduct the electricity and paralyze its carrier. The air smelled of ozone, and when the smell got stronger, I stepped back. It was charging up its White Lightning. I braced myself for a shock; I wasn't sure if my wards would hold against its deadly breath weapon. Sure enough, the beast opened its mouth, and I saw a white glow emerge from its throat, followed by sparks.

It was at times like this that I regretted armor being made of metal. I had to be fast to outrun its breath weapon. I ran behind the corner of the wall just as I heard the electricity surge. I closed my eyes before it hit the carpet (this section had an actual carpet, unlike most of the rest of the castle); I needed not to be even partially blinded if I was going to survive the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's assault. When I opened them again and peeked around the corner, the carpet had caught on fire, and the smell of smoke in addition to the ozone gave me a migraine.

Then I realized that the burning carpet was a double-sided dagger. The flames would spread toward its host, and if its host died, so did the dragon. It realized this as it tried flapping its wings to blow out the fire. It efforts slowed the flames, but they were steadily inching towards the dragon and its host. It touched the girl with the tip of an ivory talon, but its coat of static electricity worked against it when she convulsed. The dragon growled; it seemed out of options.

I smirked triumphantly. It had practically defeated itself for me.

Then something unexpected happened. The dragon's blue eyes glowed as the girl emitted a pale blue aura. She was still unconscious, but she was getting to her feet. Her head flopped precariously from side to side. The dragon looked behind it, and the girl walked in that direction. She didn't have any control over herself.

A heart wrenching realization hit me. Normally, Kas had no control over their hosts. Their hosts would summon and control the Ka using their Ba. The girl in front of me, however, seemed to be a special case. If my suspicions were correct, the pair possessed a dual soul. Half of each's soul existed in the other. She could control the dragon, but it could control her. Those with dual souls often clashed in a battle of wills. Unfortunately, since the girl was unconscious, she had no control over her dragon, so it was free to do as it pleased, including possess her. I had signed up for too much when I agreed to deal with her for eavesdropping.

The dragon tried to turn around, but it was too big. It lashed its tail in frustration and knocked some of the stones in the wall loose. Being a dragon, it realized what it could do with its massive bulk. It leaned to one side then slammed into the wall. An explosion of dust entered the air, and when I could open my eyes again, I saw that it had broken into the library. I groaned when it charged its lightning again. It had realized that there were plenty of flammable wooden shelves and countess books and scrolls that could be incinerated. It released its deadly breath weapon into the library. The ornate tapestries, the antique rugs, and every other piece of fabric in the library were destroyed in the resulting explosion.

I turned my attention back to the girl. She locked herself in a storage room with a metal door.

The White Dragon turned its attention to the door now. To my surprise, it fired up its electricity and aimed at the carpet in front of the door, which ignited immediately. Now, it seemed like the dragon was trying to kill its host. The idea was absurd; surely it knew that if she died, it would die with it. It flapped its wings to draw the flames to the door. After a few minutes, the metal had started to glow. When it rubbed its rounded snout against the hinges and doorknob, I finally understood its logic. It had fanned the flames to make the metal malleable enough to mold. By destroying the only ways to open the door, she was stuck there. She couldn't get out, but we couldn't get in. Now that it was free of the burden of watching over its host, it could turn to more pressing matters, like how much destruction it could cause.

It saw me again and began to advance menacingly. I turned tail and ran. It was my only chance of survival, after all. It rounded the corned and made sure to dislodge the stones in the wall in several places before continuing its pursuit. While it paused to break through the wall again, I ripped a tapestry to open a secret passageway. I ran up the stone steps and grinned when I heard its roar of frustration when only its head and part of its neck could fit through the entrance. It fired at the steps, but I knew that even a Blue-Eyes White Dragon's lightning would have no effect against stone.

While I was running upstairs, I wondered how I would deal with the girl's dragon. The obvious solution hit me halfway through my ascent: Aksira. She too possessed a Ka. Though Aksira didn't possess a dual soul, her dragon could hold off the White Dragon for at least a couple hours. If we were going to dispel her Ka, we needed all the time we could get. I turned through several corridors until I reached Aksira's tower. I remembered that she wasn't at the meeting, but she was my last chance. Duos wouldn't even last a minute against a White Dragon.

I banged on the door, but she didn't answer. I could only wait for so long. When I received no reply, I lost all patience and summoned Duos. He understood my intentions and slashed the door away with his oversized sword. At once, I heard a scream of fury as Aksira stormed towards me with every intent to kill written on her face.

"Where were you in the meeting this morning?" I demanded.

She ignored my question. "I thought I made it very clear that you were never to enter my chambers," she spat, pulling a dagger out of her bracer.

"Technically, I'm not in your chambers. I'm outside them."

"Don't push me or else I'll use Rorex to destroy Duos."

"That's sort of why I'm here. I need to borrow Rorex."

"Don't bring me into this. A little bird told me you said you would handle the situation yourself."

"She's your slave, so she's your responsibility."

"Then you shouldn't have tried to deal with her yourself. You reap what you sow, Seto."

"You don't understand."

"Understand what, imbecile?"

"She has a Ka."

She stared at me, so I continued. "Her Ka is a Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and they share a dual soul."

"_What?_ That's impossible!"

"Why do you think she has pale skin, white hair, and blue eyes? Why do you think the dragons were so afraid of her? Her Ka is practically the king of dragons. And since Colan threatened her life and knocked her out while she was summoning her Ka, it's free do to whatever it pleases, including control her. Did I mention that the dragon made her lock herself in a storage closet and then destroyed the only entrance?" I added casually.

She glared at me. "You owe me big time."

"You're right. Are you going to help me or not?"

"Keep in mind that I'm not doing this for you," she said as a dark red glow surrounded her. Her Red-Eyes Black Dragon materialized and roared.

"So, where is her dragon?" she asked.

I shrugged.

"You don't know?" she roared. "How dare you enlist me without that knowledge!"

We both heard an assortment of screeches, roars, and growls outside her window. Without thinking, we both ran to the window to see the cause of the commotion. The first thing I saw was a Kaiser Dragon's snakelike body stream past a White Dragon.

_Good. They're subduing it with our dragons._

"Why do none of the dragons have riders?" Aksira interrupted my thinking.

I hadn't noticed that before. Swearing, I said, "It's released the others."

Now that I looked at it more closely, I realized that the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was too small to be the girl's Ka. I was looking at Ibris, our Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

"That's Ibris right there," she said, copying my thinking. "So where's her Ka?"

Her question was answered when another white dragon's head appeared outside the window. Its eyes narrowed in recognition as it charged its White Lightning and aimed at the window. Aksira's dragon, Rorex, roared and breathed its garnet-colored flames at the window. I wasn't taking any chances; I turned and ran. From the resulting shockwave and sound, I knew that the impact was colossal. I chanced a look behind me. There was a giant hole in the wall, and the edges of the stone had melted. The temperature had probably risen fifteen degrees from just that single blast. My steel armor burned my skin from the sudden increase in heat. I could deal with the pain, however. I had suffered much worse before.

The hole in the wall was large enough for Rorex to slide through. He breathed multiple fireballs at the Blue-Eyes White Dragon; the many Inferno Fire Blasts were enough to deter the enemy just long enough for it to squeeze through the hole and take to the sky. The White Dragon started to build up its lightning, so the Red-Eyes Black Dragon breathed another fireball at the developing blast. His experience showed when it hit spot-on. A miniature explosion burned the White Dragon's gaping maw.

Now it was angry. Its blue eyes started to turn dark purple, a sign that it was losing control of itself. It attacked a nearby Kaiser dragon, biting its long, spindly foreleg. Even from my distance, I could hear the crack of broken bones. I had always worried about Stepfather's desire for long legs on his dragons. His logic was that it would make it harder for a sword strike to injure its main torse. The result of selective "breeding", if a fusion spell could be called breeding, was thinner, weaker bones that broke more easily and could barely support the dragon's weight with a rider and armor.

The Kaiser Dragon shrieked and struggled to get away from the White Dragon. The larger beast clamped harder on its leg before letting go. The dragon whimpered and flew towards the mountains like most of its brethren had already done. Ibris wasn't taking any chances with the larger member of her species, and fled towards the mountains as well. The other remaining dragons scattered, except for one I was afraid would stay behind to attack the castle: Fang, the Tyrant Dragon. He roared at the White Dragon, who returned the call but didn't attack. They worked beside each other, decimating the castle walls.

Meanwhile, our soldiers were evacuating the castle residents. I noticed that the guy in the stretcher was absent. I figured that everyone else thought he wasn't worth the effort; he really did look sick.

I still wondered why Bakura showed so much interest in the blonde. I knew that he was a captain in the army forming against us, but he didn't seem like much of a threat. However, Bakura assured Stepfather that he was absolutely dangerous. He didn't go into details, but when I had seen him around the blonde, he looked very uneasy. For a necromancer, he seemed unusually keen to keep him alive. The eye with the scar seemed to twitch slightly whenever he was near the patient.

Then I thought about what the Thief King was up to. He was probably out to save his own hide; it wouldn't be like him to stick up for others. Then again, he was probably killing for sport or plundering the treasury amidst the chaos. I wouldn't put either past him.

Aksira interrupted my thought process again. "Well, where's that storage closet?"

I thought for a while before I remembered. "Where the library was."

"Was? WAS? It's your fault the library was destroyed!"

"Her dragon incinerated it, not me."

"You're the one that knocked her out."

"Actually, Colan was."

"Lucky you. You've been demoted to number three on my hit list. Colan, you've claimed the number two spot!"

"Who has the top position?"

"Bakura."

"He was the one that captured you and brought you here, wasn't he?"

She held her dagger to my throat. "Don't. Remind. Me."

"Well, do we have a welder?"

"What do you think?"

"What about a blacksmith?"

"No. Gozaburo's going to salvage everyone he can to build his new castle if he can't get to another hideout soon."

"So how are we going to break in?" I asked.

"Let's think about it once we get there."

"You're being unusually impulsive."

"And you're being unusually stupid, Seto, even more than normal. Move it."

I held my hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Okay."

Running, we headed to the ruins of the library. We had to take several detours due to piles of rubble of missing patches of floor.

"Dragons can be pretty destructive," I commented when he reached what was left of the library.

"No dip, Sherlock. Where's the storage closet?"

I scanned the wall for the area where the Blue-Eyes White Dragon had rubbed its rounded head against the metal. It took a little white, but I finally located it. As we ran to it, a brown tail blocked our path. The White Dragon sent Fang to guard its host. His glowing green eyes showed delight in being able to cause mayhem.

"Go destroy another part of the castle, Fang."

I saw surprise in his eyes. He deliberated the rare command in his head for several seconds before breathing orange flames on a patch of carpet that had survived the White Dragon's assault, snorting in amusement, and leaving.

Unfortunately for us, it was right outside the library doorframe. It had blocked the only easy was to the storage closet.

"Duos is Dark element, not Water," I said.

"Well, have him use his sword to blow the flames away."

I let the familiar dark blue energy envelop me as I released my Ka. He instinctively knew my command and swung his sword back and forth at the flames. They swayed from side to side, but they didn't go out.

"Forget this," Aksira said after a minute of no success. "Firajna!"

I recognized the spell for extinguishing flames.

"Why didn't you use that spell when this whole scene started?" I complained.

"I was going to save my energy for desummoning her Ka, but I'm out of patience."

We ran to the area with the dent in the wall. It was still exuding heat from when the Blue-Eyes White Dragon fanned the flames on it.

"Duos, you know what to do," I said.

The warrior grunted in agreement. He lifted his massive sword and sung at the dent. It left slashes in the wall, but it barely breached the surface of the metal. Then he brought his arm back, charged his sword, and stabbed the wall. It went in surprisingly deep. In fact, half his sword had entered the wall. He started to pull his sword out of the metal, but we ran into a snag there: it got stuck. He struggled to withdraw it, but it was all to no avail.

"I guess I'll have to desummon and resummon him until we've broken through the wall," I said.

"Don't," Aksira said. "You'll waste your Ba."

"Well, what do you propose we do?"

"Pry it open with your bare hands," she said.

"Nice try, Aksira."

"Well, it was worth a shot," she shrugged.

"Why don't you try something?" I asked.

"Fine. I'll show you what I can do because of my Ka."

I raised an eyebrow.

She closed her eyes for a small moment. Seconds later, a ball of Rorex's maroon flames appeared in her hand. It was a tiny thing, so I wondered what she was planning to do with it. She raised the fireball to her face and blew on it. A small stream erupted from the fireball as she cut into the wall. It was large enough for a grown man to squeeze through if he was hunched over. He would still have to step over a small section of the wall to get inside.

"Go get her," she said.

"What?"

"Do you want me to desummon her Ka, or do you want to die trying? I've already used enough magic as it is."

"Fine. You win." I crouched down, cursing my height as I did so.

The girl was covered in soot. The area of her potato sack dress where the White Dragon had touched her was blackened, and I saw a tiny hole in the middle of the patch, but it didn't reveal anything. She had blood on her right temple from when Colan had hit her with the jug. Her hair was stained red from the blood. Injuries this bad often caused extreme amnesia, if not death. She was breathing shallowly, so it hadn't killed her… yet.

She had a black eye from where Torik had punched her. I smirked as I remembered that savage kick she gave him in retribution. Her foot broke his knee, and her knee had struck his crotch. Adrenaline worked wonders. I had been beyond surprised when I saw her injure the Thief King's second-in-command. She was very thin and frail looking; no one would expect such strength from someone like her.

Gingerly, I poked her. She didn't respond, so I picked her up. A thought occurred to me. How was I going to get her out without injuring her? And why was I even concerned whether she was injured or not? She was just a slave. She should be no one to me.

"What's the holdup?" Aksira asked.

"How do I get her out without injuring her? The hole's kind of small."

"Try a fireman's lift."

I mentally slapped myself, berating the fact that the obvious answer hadn't come to me. As I swung her over my shoulder, it occurred to me just how light she was. She was short, but she should have been heavier. I could feel her ribcage through my glove. Most people would think she was anorexic.

I squeezed through the hold Aksira had created. It was a second later that I felt a sudden jerk and pounding on my back, so I set her down to see if she had come to.

She hadn't; the dragon's half of her dual soul had taken over. She lashed out at me, but it didn't do much good; I was wearing armor.

"She's just going to injure herself further," I commented.

Aksira thought for a while. "She's afraid of dragons. I enchanted her temporarily so she could clean the dragons' cages without passing out. I'll beacon Rorex, then you wake her up. Her fear and hate should suppress her Ka."

"You're onto something."

Aksira glowed red, and it was only minutes before the Red-Eyes Black Dragon showed up to do his master's bidding.

"Wake her up, Seto."

"Okay," I said. "Nirohai." Awaken.

Her eyes return to normal, but they had a dazed look in them. She was probably taking in her surroundings. She looked right at Rorex several times, but she didn't show any signs of comprehension.

"Oh no. Her concussion gave her amnesia!" Aksira moaned.

A pit formed in my stomach. Her Ka would still be able to control her if her amnesia was as severe as I suspected it was.

"Keep an eye on her and don't let her escape," Aksira said walking off.

"Where are you going?"

"Getting a necklace."

"Now's not the time to accessorize!" I yelled.

"It's not for me, it's for her," she replied.

"She doesn't need jewelry, either!"

"I'm going to enchant it, Seto."

"Why can't you use the one you're wearing?"

"It's pure gold. It would be taken immediately from her."

"Just make it work, Aksira."

She glared at me as she removed her necklace. She chanted several spells, and I saw glyphs for three spells form in a ring, repeating over and over until they would touch each other. She placed the necklace, and I saw a pink glow when the necklace touched the slave girl's skin. I took a closer look at the runes on the choker.

_Use wearer's energy to suppress Ka. Bind necklace to skin. Only enchanter of necklace can remove. Use wearer's energy to suppress Ka…_

There was a light purple glow, and I heard a distant roar fade away as a beam of white light headed straight towards the girl's chest.

"There. Now she can't use her dragon, and it shouldn't be able to control her."

"Thanks, Aksira."

"You had better come up with something better to thank me for practically doing your job for you."

"Fine. I am eternally indebted to you. Happy?" I said, bowing.

"Quite. Remember what you just said. I'll use it against you forever."

"I'll be sure to conveniently forget about it every time you bring it up."

She stuck her tongue out at me, mounting Rorex."

"I suggest you climb on. The castle could collapse at any moment. And don't expect to ride Rorex any time soon after this."

I stepped towards the great Black Dragon.

_"Aren't you forgetting someone?"_ he spoke telepathically in my head.

He had never talked with me before, so I did my best to remember his voice. I looked behind me and saw Aksira's slave still sitting there, looking out of it.

"Get up," I said.

She didn't seem to understand.

"Aksira, I don't think she can understand us."

"Well, with amnesia that bad, I'm not surprised."

I helped her to her feet, and she walked to Rorex beside me. There was a certain awkwardness to her steps. I pulled her onto Rorex, since she didn't seem to register the fact that she needed to climb on.

The dragon clambered through the halls, looking for an opening in the walls or ceiling where he could take off. In the burning castle, the smoke made it hard to see anything, and the smell probably masked the scent of fresh air.

A sudden bang in front of us made Rorex flinch, and I saw a flash of brown as Fang's torso left the wall. Grateful for an opening, Rorex stuck his head out and scanned the skies for any danger. Sensing none, he took off.

That was when Fang divebombed us…

**Wow. Two chapters in 24 hours. That's got to be a record - although I had already written this chapter in a notebook, so it was just a matter of copying it down. **

**So Kisara finally lost her memory. Things get interesting from here on. Review, please!**


	12. Chapter 12

**I don't own Yu-gi-oh.**

**_Seto's pov_**

Fang slammed into Rorex's left flank, nearly unseating all of us. I actually had to hold the slave girl to prevent her from plummeting to her death.

I used a dragon whistle to summon Ibris. Even though she was young, she would be able to carry my weight as well as the pale slave's without slowing her too much. She was ten feet tall and sixteen feet long; she probably weighed about five tons. I was still concerned about her carrying so much weight. Her skeleton wasn't fully developed, and her wings still weren't strong compared to an adult's. Ibris was precious to me; I considered her to be a large, scaly sister. In order to get on her, I would jump from Rorex and have her catch us. However, there was no telling how long it would take for her to reach us.

Rorex battled Fang relentlessly, clawing and biting whenever he got too close and throwing his fiery breath when Fang wasn't within range for physical attacks. Let it not be said that Red-Eyes Black Dragons were poor fighters.

I constantly scanned the horizon for Ibris, but there was no sign of her. Then again, with the chaos of the fight and constantly shifting positions, it would be hard to spot anything in particular. Aksira's connection with Rorex was flawless; she could control him at will, but they built up enough trust to work independently.

The slave girl was still clueless as to what was going on around her. She almost seemed as if she were watching a play from within, watching the action up close without being part of it. She had no idea of the danger she was in.

After what seemed like hours, though it was only about eight minutes, I finally saw Ibris's outline coming from the mountains. It would still be a few minutes before she could reach us, and it would be dangerous for her to get close to Fang's battle with Rorex.

Fang relished combat; if he were easily controlled, he could be a good war mount. He was powerful – Tyrant Dragons always were – and with his insatiable bloodlust, nothing would be left behind.

Soon the battle grew from melee combat into pyrotechnic warfare. Rorex's fire was much hotter and more powerful than Fang's, but Fang outweighed him, and given enough time, could probably outmuscle him when the battle returned to melee combat.

Ibris had only crossed one-third the distance between us. I was afraid she was fighting the wind. If she were, she would be even more exhausted with the slave girl and me on her back. I wasn't sure how long she would last.

By now, the battle still hadn't let up. If anything, it had intensified.

"Aksira."

"What?"

"I'm about to jump with her. Keep Fang away!"

"Are you crazy?"

"Just do it."

Right then, Rorex flipped in mid-air to rake Fang's belly with all of his talons. I hadn't expected it, so the slave girl dangled while I was holding onto her wrist. Unfortunately, her weight, combined with a sudden lurch on Rorex's part made me fall off. There was no choice now. I had to use my ba to summon Ibris.

She appeared just above me and grabbed my cape with her right forepaw. She crooned when she saw I was safe. To let us on her back, she gained altitude and turned sideways so I could climb up.

"Hold her in your claws until I get up."

She grunted in response and grabbed her with her left forepaw. Once I was secure, I grabbed the girl and hoisted her up. I still didn't think she knew what was going on.

"Can you carry us very far?" I asked Ibris.

She grunted. A yes.

"Follow the trail of refugees."

I noticed as we were flying that she was a lot slower than normal. The slave, light as she was, weighed Ibris down, and we slowly sunk through the air until she consciously made an effort to fly higher. The desert was unforgiving.

"Don't push yourself, Ibris."

A downdraft pushed her down. Just when I thought she would plummet, an updraft and tailwind pushed her up. She relaxed slightly, but I could tell she was getting tired. Sunlight streamed on her white scales, almost blinding me. The desert sun was merciless to the body. Soon, I would need water, but we were a long ways away from an oasis.

My armor started to overheat, aggravating the burns I had already received that day. After a while, Ibris descended into a cave.

"Are they in here?" I asked.

She shook her head and padded towards a pool of water. I didn't blame her. She drank for several minutes before settling down near the mouth of the cave to rest.

I took several swallows before I noticed a green light shine in the bottom of the pool, followed by several more until the entire pool shone green. Then I saw something strange form on the surface of the water once it settled.

An image of ruins formed on the surface, desert sands billowing around an entrance to what appeared to be a gate. The vision shifted forward through the gate and down a long tunnel lit by torches. It went down for probably a half-mile before it opened to a chamber. It looked like an ancient temple, forgotten for thousands of years. Then I saw three statues of dragons that looked like they were made of diamond. Then I noticed a sword in each of the statues in an odd place. One was lodged in a dragon's claw. Another was stuck in the right eye, and the last one was in a dragon's mouth, right where the fang would be if it were open. The image zoomed in on the dragon statue with the sword in its mouth, and I saw a dark blue dragon with lavender eyes roaring in the night sky, releasing a blast of ice. The sword was noticeably absent from its mouth. The dragon looked me in the eye, and the word "Critias" popped into my head. Then the image faded from the pool, and most of the green stones stopped glowing, although a few still sparkled green in tiny flecks. It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the darkness.

When they did, I saw a hermit with long green hair step out of the shadows. He wore linen robes with strange markings on the front and blue boots.

"I see you've found my scrying pool," he said. "The orichalcos stones have responded well to you. Perhaps they'll show you something else if you disturb the water again."

"Who are you?"

"My name matters not. I suppose I could tell you, but it wouldn't mean anything."

I narrowed my eyes.

He continued, "You could say I'm a Guardian of this realm."

"Why should I trust you? For all I know, you're trying to trap me."

"I wouldn't be so foolish as to try harming you with the King of White Dragons so close by."

"Ibris is female."

"I was referring to Azrael, not that tiny runt."

Ibris growled.

"Azrael?"

"You do realize that the girl slumped against Ibris is the host of a Blue-Eyes White Dragon? I suppose you would have; why else would you have enchanted that necklace with those particular spells and placed it on her? I guess Azrael went on a rampage and that was the only way you could suppress him, wasn't it?"

I gaped. _How did he know that?_

"Even with Azrael subdued like that, I wouldn't harm you… or especially his Keeper. Dragons have long memories, and I don't want the King of White Dragons after my blood. Escape would be… difficult at best. Besides, he plays a vital role in saving the world from Zorc Necrophades."

"Zorc what?"

"The Demon King, Lord of Darkness, creator of the Shadow Realm. The Thief King Bakura plays a major role in his revival. Bakura will sacrifice his Ka, Diabound, to undo the seal on Zorc."

"Wouldn't that kill him?" I asked eagerly.

"If he'll survive, he'll be left without a fragment of his soul. Eventually, his mind will decay, triggering incurable insanity and eventual death. If he were born without Diabound, his soul would be unaffected. If the darkness in one's heart _creates_ a Ka, it becomes like a tumor, growing in strength and overwhelming the host until it is removed. However, Bakura is not so fortunate, and when he sacrifices Diabound, he'll permanently damage his own soul."

My heart pounded. Was I born with Duos or not?

"How do you know this?" I asked.

"You're not the only one the pool responds to."

I noticed a green stone on a pendant that reminded me of the stones in the pool.

"What is that stone?"

"A seer's stone, Atlantian crystal, an orichalcos stone, whatever you wish to call it."

"Orichalcos?"

"It translates to water mirror stone in Atlantian."

"Surely you don't mean Atlantis is real?"

"It is. Or rather, it _was_. I am one of the few surviving descendants of that lost civilization."

I looked him over. For the first time, I noticed that his eyes were different colors.

He must have seen me scrutinizing him; he was too observant. "My eyes are different colors to symbolize my Guardianship."

"Guardian?"

"I already told you I'm a Guardian of this realm," he said testily.

Ibris yawned and released a blast of white lightning. More of the green stones glowed on the walls.

"These stones are unusually active with your presence. You'll probably see another vision in the water," he continued.

I glanced at the scrying pool. Now I saw the slave girl. She had put on some weight, so now she looked healthy. She was wearing an aqua dress with slightly darker aqua and white flowers embroidered on the sides. Her hair had been braided around her head like a wreath of laurels (a new term, waterfall braids, entered my head), and everything below the braids was curled. She had the most radiant smile I had ever seen. As she twirled, I looked at my surroundings. There were several dancers around me, so I assumed it was one of the balls Gozaburo held to raise the army's morale. Among the dancers was Aksira, dancing with what appeared to be the prisoner with full-body bruising, except he was fully healed and had regained muscle tone. I noticed a look on Aksira's face I had seen only when she gazed at one of the better-looking soldiers shirtless. Of course, I looked better than all of the soldiers put together, but she was never stupid enough to give _me_ that look. I didn't notice Gozaburo among the people, though he never danced. He just showed up every now and then for the food and went back to his chambers. Parties were probably too full of happiness for him to stand. The Thieves Guild was notably absent.

I finally got a good look at myself. I was wearing one of my nicest suits (white pants, shiny black boots, and a black jacket with white embroidery on the sleeves, pockets, and lapels – it's Robert's outfit at the ball from the movie Enchanted). I seemed content, a feeling I rarely experienced.

Then the girl had the audacity to come in and _hug _me. To my shock, I buried my head in her hair and hugged her back. We stayed like that a few moments, and I was afraid the vision would show us kissing. It would be absolutely unprofessional for the second-in-command of an army to show public affection, especially on that level.

Luckily for me, the vision ended, and I was back to myself. I went to go to Ibris, but I was frozen. I couldn't budge.

"What have you done to me?"

"I have seen a vision in the scrying pool. Your comrade, Aksira, placed that necklace on Azrael's keeper to suppress him. However, it has shown me that if I do nothing, when you get back to your army, the leader will search your memories and find that she enchanted the necklace and have her remove it. Then Azrael will break free and destroy you as well as everyone in the vicinity. I have seen that the only way to prevent this is to modify your memory. You'll even forget I enchanted you in the first place."

I was mortified. Memory spells were extremely dangerous, and there was nothing I could do to prevent one cast on me.

"You'll thank me later. _Maiaridus_."

I mind went blank, and I couldn't remember what I was doing in this strange place. Suddenly, an image of the green-haired man filled my head and I saw him place the necklace on the girl. Her dragon chased Ibris into the cave, where this stranger suppressed him with the necklace. Immediately, the dragon named Azrael vanished. Aksira and Rorex had stayed behind to fight Fang.

_How did I forget about that? Did I stay out in the desert sun too long?_

Then I remembered my visions I saw in the scrying pool.

_That must be why my mind went hazy._

"Thanks for suppressing that dragon."

"It was nothing," he said. "Azrael would have destroyed all my possessions. Well, if you'll excuse me, I must leave at once. The King of White Dragons will surely send out an army of his subjects after me since I've suppressed him. I'll take my leave now."'

With a flash, he vanished into thin air.

This man, whoever he was, was extremely dangerous; I knew I only found him because he wanted to be found. Teleporting was extremely complex, and performing such an act with that much (apparent) ease was a feat in itself.

That, and he claimed to be a survivor of Atlantis.

Atlantis had been destroyed ten thousand years ago. There was no way he could be ten thousand years old.

It was said that Atlantians were long-lived. But they couldn't live that long and still look so young without magic.

And what the heck was a Guardian? I'd never heard of them.

Shaking my head, I looked one more time at the scrying pool. I saw a giant demon fighting a gargantuan black wyrm with a purple belly and fins that almost looked like hair. I noticed the dragon Critias as well as two others, a maroon and a green, flying around the wyrm, attacking the demon. Then I saw a Blue-Eyes White Dragon and a Red-Eyes Black Dragon attack the demon. Both had received many wounds, almost as if they had battled it out with each other before attacking the demon. The vision zoomed in of a man with the weirdest hairstyle I'd ever seen (black with red tips that shot straight up and yellow bangs) summon three monsters that reeked of power. One was a blue humanoid with wings, another was a serpentine red dragon with two mouths and a black belly, and the third was of a golden dragon that resembled a bird.

The vision ended there, but I knew there was more to it. Those three monsters would definitely fight that demon, but the outcome of the battle was unknown.

I sat up with a slight headache. Those visions were probably affecting my mind.

I looked at the slave girl, whom I had forgotten about. She had fallen asleep against Ibris, which was strange, because Ibris would normally scare off any human that got too close to her besides me, and every now and then, Aksira. Ibris had wrapped her wing around the girl's sleeping form and was watching her protectively, another unusual behavior aimed at a stranger. She looked at me as I approached them, but she didn't budge.

"Come on, Ibris. Let's find the others."

She blinked but still didn't move.

"Ibris, _let's go._"

To my shock, she snapped her jaws at me.

"What's gotten into you?" I demanded. She was behaving almost like… almost like a mother dragon guarding her young.

"You've got to be kidding me."

She gazed at me as if to say, "_You'd better believe it_."

"Ibris, we've got to get her to a healer so she doesn't die on us."

She snorted. _Hmph_.

"At the very least, we need to put her in the pool for now so she doesn't overheat."

She gradually lifted her wing, giving permission to move her. I lifted her very gently, since Ibris would watch my every move like a hawk. When I started to walk towards the pool, Ibris shot straight up and followed me there, her snout inches behind my neck.

I'm sure you can imagine that having any predator following you would be unnerving. A lion or tiger stalking you from a distance is one thing, but having a five-ton Blue-Eyes White Dragon padding inches behind you and feeling its hot breath down your neck is a different ballgame.

I set her in the water. The Orichalcos stones began to glow again, so I assumed I would have another vision. I didn't.

The dried blood in her white hair washed away, and I saw the wound on her head heal before my eyes.

_What other powers do these stones have?_

She remained asleep. As I held her, the stones flashed, and an image of a darker-skinned me wearing linen and blue silk lined with gold showed up on the surface of the water. I was weeping in front of a tablet with a carving of a Blue-Eyes White Dragon and holding a pale, white-haired girl in his arms as a piercing sadness filled my being. It felt so miserable that I almost cried myself.

Ibris lay down next to me and watched the slave.

I supposed that the reason that Ibris was so attached, bordering on foster motherhood, to the slave was that she looked like a human version of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. She looked frail, which would induce pity, but I had a feeling that it was something else, something that I didn't understand that drew Ibris to her.

I gradually fell asleep due to the refreshing water and exhaustion from the battle. My dream was of a white haired-girl and the darker-skinned me, though I couldn't remember what actually happened in my dream when I woke up.

It was later in the afternoon that I heard claw clacks in the cave. Ibris was still against me, her wing over the slave girl and I like a blanket.

I opened my eyes and saw a familiar Red-Eyes Black Dragon approach. Rorex had received a good number of wounds from the fight with Fang, but it appeared that he had won. Aksira was standing in front of him holding a flat rock.

"What's that?"

"I collect flat rocks to use as tablets for spells or artwork."

I nodded, any suspicions thrown off. "Let's go, Aksira. Gozaburo will have our heads if we don't find him soon."

"We don't have to return to him, you know. If he thinks we're dead, we can be free."

I thought for a while, but Aksira continued, crestfallen. "Of course. You're not one to relinquish power so easily, are you?"

"You can still leave."

"I won't. Who will watch over my friends?"

"Friends?"

"You call them slaves, but they're still human beings. Ayari and Mana are the last ones who need to be Gozaburo's slaves, or I suppose concubines."

"I know you have more slaves than those two."

"Friends, not slaves. I get their respect through kindness, not fear."

"Whatever you say. Let's go."

I picked up the slave girl (I was determined not to remember her name for fear of attachment) and set her on Ibris's back as I climbed on myself. I held her in my arms as Ibris took off with Rorex.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Aksira thought about the tablet she picked up in the cave and smiled.

_That was a close one._

**_Okay, so that was a really overdue chapter. I had writer's block and school halfway through, but it's finally up. What do you think?_**

**_And what's the deal with Aksira's tablet?_**


	13. Chapter 13

**I don't own Yugioh.**

**_ Seto's pov_**

"So I take it Rorex beat Fang?" I asked after a while of flying.

"Sort of," Aksira responded as Rorex snorted. "Rorex adamantly insists that he scared Fang off, but I think Fang realized that he was free because he flew away. Then we had to find you."

"Sorry about that," I said. "Ibris needed a break from flying."

"I'm surprised that you're taking such good care of Kisara," Aksira commented.

"That's her name?"

"You've heard it before. I know you better than you realize. You're trying to forget who she is."

"Maybe."

"Her Ka is a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. I think you'll be stuck with her to make sure her dragon doesn't come out."

"If you're actually as good at magic as claim to be, it shouldn't be a problem. You're an expert on Kas. I'm sure you can suppress Azrael before he surfaces again, though this necklace that the old hermit enchanted seems to be doing a good job. I don't know how we found that cave where he was. You and Rorex were fighting Fang, but I know you saw Azrael vanish."

"What are you talking about?"

"How can you not remember? You were right there when he put on the necklace and suppressed Azrael!"

"Seto, I think the desert heat has addled your brain."

"No, it's addled _your_ brain, Aksira. Azrael was heading for us when that necklace made him disappear."

"Seto. There was no hermit. I suppressed the dragon."

"I can't believe you've actually forgotten. The heat and smoke have affected your brain. When we find the others, you had better get treated."

"And who's Azrael, anyway?"

"Her dragon."

"How did you learn its name?"

"The hermit."

"Seto, we both need treatment. Then we'll see who's right. In the meantime, we'll need to find the others."

We didn't say anything else until dusk began to fall.

"Is that them?" I asked when we saw what looked like a line in the mountains.

"Probably," Aksira nodded.

The two dragons descended towards what seemed like a giant snake from our height. As we dropped, the slave girl – no, Kisara was her name, started to slide off of Ibris's back. I had to clutch tightly to her thin arm. We descended for several minutes before finding the group of people who came from the now-ruined castle. Several people screamed, mostly slaves, as we landed. Almost immediately, a patrol of soldiers ran up to us.

"Lord Seto, Lady Aksira, Master Gozaburo requests your presence for a meeting immediately. It concerns that girl," one of the soldiers spoke as he made a ward-evil sign at Kisara as he spoke.

"Fine. Where is he?" I asked.

"He's somewhere near the front of the company."

"Any other orders?" Aksira asked.

"Bring the girl."

"Right," I said, grabbing Kisara as I jumped off Ibris's back. She truly needed a rest after all her flying and perhaps fighting today.

Kisara still walked strangely. It was almost as if she had forgotten how to walk.

We hiked up the mountain trail to Gozaburo's tent (by now, the soldiers had determined that the slaves and nobles couldn't go any further without collapsing, so they had set up camp).

"Lord Seto," I heard a general come up to me.

"What is it?"

"Do you have the girl?"

"What does it look like, idiot?" I gestured to Kisara.

"My apologies. Master Gozaburo wants to know everything he can about her because of her dragon."

"Her dragon has been suppressed."

"How did you do that?"

"We were running away from Azrael – that's her dragon's name – when we reached a cave. There was an old hermit that put on this gold necklace that suppresses the dragon."

"I see," he didn't sound convinced.

"Gozaburo can check my memories. I'm not lying."

"If you insist, follow me to the meeting you're late for."

"It's not my fault. Continue to insult me, and I'll demote you to polishing Flypaper's boots."

"Who's Flypaper?" one of the soldiers asked.

"You know him as the creep with golden glasses."

The soldier flinched. "Not him…."

"I'm glad you realize the significance of my threat. Get lost."

They skedaddled.

"Like they were even invited to the meeting," Aksira said sarcastically. I followed her inside the black tent.

"Seto, Aksira, you are late," Lord Zigfried said.

"You don't say," I snapped. We had never gotten along.

"What took you so long?" Gozaburo asked.

"Suppressing Azrael took much longer than we anticipated," I said.

"Azrael?"

"Her dragon," I gestured to the slave girl.

Everyone turned to give her an appraising look.

"_She _is the host of a White Dragon?"

"She looks like a human version of one, doesn't she?" Aksira said.

"Yes," Gozaburo said. He seemed calculating. "How _did_ you manage to suppress it?"

"There was an old hermit. He put on that necklace that suppresses her Ka."

"Really," Gozaburo didn't seem convinced.

"Why does no one believe me?"

"Zat necklace looks like vone Aksira vould vear," Zigfried said.

Immediately, Aksira spoke up. "It's not mine. The only jewelry I have anymore is what I'm wearing now. Plus someone took the time to etch those runes into it that bind the necklace to skin. That necklace suppresses Kas. Why would I wear something that suppresses my own Ka and that I can't remove?"

Her reasoning convinced Gozaburo. "Very well. Seto, would you step forward?"

I did, unsure why. Instantly, I felt a severe pressure on my mind as Gozaburo examined my memories. While Gozaburo couldn't use magic, his skills at telepathy often overwhelmed mine, especially when I wasn't prepared for mental combat. It was the main reason he was head of the army: he was fat and completely worthless when it came to magic, but he could force any man into submission by learning his weaknesses from his mind. He could instill ideas and even change people's personalities; I'd seen him transform the most timid boys on the planet into mindless killers. Everyone feared him.

"Interesting," Gozaburo said as he withdrew his mind from mine. I was surprised to feel a touch of fear as he pulled out.

"What's interesting?" I asked.

"What do you think?" Gozaburo glared. "You have an unusual tale, yet your mind confirms its truth. I shall have to look into the matter of that hermit you saw. He could be a dangerous threat."

_ Oh, so it's the hermit that worries him._

I noticed everyone's gazes had shifted to Kisara, ogling in the cases of some of the Thieves Guild. The pale slave didn't react at all to the attention. She just kept staring into space.

"So she houses the King of White Dragons," Gozaburo broke the silence. "We'll have to find a way to extract him from her."

"That won't work," Aksira immediately said. "Seto and I have come to a conclusion that she and Azrael possess a dual soul."

"Isn't that what we have?" Bakura said, lounging back.

"No. You, Seto and I both possess double souls, meaning that we have a Ka, but our souls are separate. People with dual souls are different. Their Ka and Ba are combined, so half of each being's soul exists in the other. If Azrael weren't suppressed, to extract him would require subduing two of her and two of the King of White Dragons. Even subduing the mind of one dragon is hard for you. Then there's the issue of the combined Ka and Ba. Extracting Azrael would kill both of them because their life forces are combined. Also, that necklace has powerful magic suppressing Azrael. It would be too much even for me to handle removing."

I remembered our earlier conversation. She was thoroughly convinced that she had enchanted the choker and placed it around Kisara, but I _knew_ I was right. Why was she going along with my story?

"I think we should search for Atlantis instead of worrying about Azrael," Aksira said.

"Vat are you talking about?" Zigfried asked.

"That hermit we discussed earlier had a treasure trove of scrolls and tablets. Some of the magic is stronger than what we had in our library. The tablets also contain a detailed history of the lost civilization of Atlantis. Including its location."

Everyone was stunned.

"But I thought that Atlantis was a myth!" one of the thieves exclaimed.

"All myth is based off of fact," Gozaburo commented, though I could tell that he was very impressed with this information. "Where is it?" he demanded.

"We're actually pretty close to its location. This desert used to be the seafloor. Atlantis was in the middle of this desert."

"I need a map. We're going to find Atlantis and claim it for ourselves."

"I've got one," Aksira pulled out a scroll. "This one's ancient, but the mountains look the about the same. We need to figure out where in the mountains we are before we search for Atlantis," she pointed at a dot on the map.

Everyone stared intently at the dot marked Atlantis, which was written in runes.

"I can't read what it says," another thief complained.

"This is Atlantian. The language of magic is said to be Atlantian."

"Why did that guy have all this stuff on Atlantis?" Bakura yelled.

I answered, "He claimed to be a survivor."

"Impossible! There's no vay anyvone could live for ten sousand years!" Zigfried exclaimed.

"He's at least a descendant of the Atlantians," I said. "I'm sure of it."

"I think he is an actual survivor of Atlantis," Gozaburo said quietly. "I've seen him once before. He never gave his name, but he claimed to be a 'guardian' of this realm. I've read about these so-called 'guardians' somewhere, but I can't think of what it said about them. All I know is that they are few in numbers, extraordinarily powerful spellcasters, and that they know more than they should about any given person or subject. What exactly they are is a mystery to everyone but themselves. We must avoid that man at all costs."

I sensed that Gozaburo was troubled by the hermit. What had happened in that encounter to induce such fear?

**Yes. I'm alive. I've been busy, and then I had writer's block and low motivation for this story because I'm working on a novel I want to publish for which I also had writer's block. ****Review, please!**


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